A lifelong aviation enthusiast who joined&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;in 2007, Curt came to&nbsp;the publication&nbsp;from the broadcast industry where he was a national science and technology television reporter and producer. He writes on the FBO field, aviation finance, and sustainable aviation and occasionally contributes to&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;sister publication&nbsp;Business Jet Traveler. Curt was a member of the AINtv reporting staff that won the 2008 Aerospace Journalist of the Year award for Best Airshow Daily. That same year, he was a finalist for another AJOYA award. He earned an AJOYA for Best Business Aviation Submission in 2018 and was a finalist in that category in 2021. He received the National Air Transportation Association’s&nbsp; Aviation Journalist Award in 2012 and won a Pegasus Sapphire Business Aviation Award for outstanding journalism in 2021.
Before joining AIN, Curt worked with&nbsp;Consumer Reports’ television division, CRTV, and for several local television news staffs. An honors graduate of the State University of New York at Stony Brook, he earned a master’s degree in broadcast journalism from Boston University in 1995. Curt lives in New York State with his wife and two young sons.

Senior Editor

Curt Epstein

Jet Aviation is availing itself of the stage of the Dubai Air Show to unveil its newly relocated FBO, in a gala reception Monday evening. The company's orignal facility was established in 2013 in the main terminal building at Dubai World Central (DWC, also referred to as Dubai South or Al Maktoum International). In the new facility it will be one of the service providers sharing the world’s largest purpose-built VIP terminal (next to the Dubai Airshow Hall).

 


At 600 sq m (6,460 sq ft), the new FBO—which, like Jet Aviation’s facility at Dubai International Airport (DXB), is operated in partnership with the Al Mulla Business Group—is six times larger than the company’s previous location at Al Maktoum International. With European style and branding similar to the company’s other locations, such as at Zurich and Geneva, it features a trio of 40-sq-m (430-sq-ft&nbsp;) customer lounges along the main corridor, a conference room, crew lounge, separate prayer rooms for men and women, shower facilities, operations center and a designated waiting room for chauffeurs. The terminal also houses a large duty free shop. “We are very pleased to begin operations at Dubai South and look forward to welcoming customers to our new FBO, where they can expect to receive the highest quality services in the comfort and style to which they are accustomed with Jet Aviation,” said Stefan Benz, senior vice president of regional operations for EMEA and Asia.

 


Since it began operating in Dubai in 2005, Jet Aviation has handled more than 25,000 aircraft in the UAE. Both of its locations have been audited and approved for registration under the International Standard for Business Aviation Handlers (IS-BAH).

 


Given the current lack of available hangars at Dubai South, the General Dynamics subsidiary (Chalet A11 &amp; A12) will provide base maintenance through its MRO location at Dubai International Airport. “We are firmly committed to our customers in Dubai and the region, which our new Dubai South FBO demonstrates,” noted Hardy Butschi, vice president and general manager of the company’s MRO and FBO operations in the country. “We are also continuing﻿ to operate our award-winning MRO and FBO facilities at Dubai International Airport and we are extending our DXB maintenance approvals to support line maintenance services through the Dubai South FBO.”

 


The company, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, also announced that its Dubai maintenance facility has been awarded EN9110 certification after an independent audit. The certification represents a company's demonstrated ability to meet maintenance quality assurance requirements of both OEMs and customers for aircraft and their parts and services. The facility holds EASA, FAA and GCCA authorizations. It is a member of the Airbus ACJ Service Centre network and is authorized to provide 24-month inspections for the ACJ family as well as EASA- and FAA-registered Bombardier Globals. "We work very closely with both OEMs and authoriziing agencies to ensure a broad array of quality services for multiple aircraft types is available to our customers," said Butschi. "These new approvals extend the scope of our service offerings at both airports in Dubai across several registrations."﻿

 


Zurich-based Jet Aviation also provides aircraft management services, and its fleet in the Middle East now totals 22 aircraft with addition of six in the past year alone, among them a Bombardier Global, two Gulfstream G650s, a pair of Dassault Falcons, and a Learjet. The additions are based in North Africa, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.﻿ Combined, the company manages four BBJs, three Bombardier aircraft, four Falcons and 11 Gulfstreams. "We are pleased to see that aircraft owners and operators in the region value our 24/7 global reach, our cost-efficient solutions and our experience," said Jürg Reuthinger, senior vice president and general manager of the company's aircraft management and charter operations in EMEA and Asia.

 


&nbsp;Last, to meet increased demand for wide-body completions and refurbishments, Jet Aviation will be hosting a ground breaking on November 17 at its Basel facility for a new maintenance hangar capable of storing 747-size aircraft. The 8,700-sq-m (93,646-sq-ft) hangar is expected to be operational by the end of 2018.

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