One year on since Business Aviation Asia Ltd. (BAA) and Luxaviation pooled their expertise to form a strategic global alliance, the two world-leading business aviation companies have further extended their combined international network to deliver service excellence across the globe.

Announced in April 2017, the strategic partnership of BAA, one of the most influential business aviation operators in Asia Pacific, and Luxaviation, a leading global private aviation operator, has brought together a fleet of more than 270 aircraft and 50 helicopters in addition to 1,700 employees worldwide.

Combining the best of business aviation in the west and the east, both companies have entrenched their respective leading positions in the first year of the alliance by expanding and enhancing their combined service offering to customers.

ABACE 2018 marks the second year of joining hands between BAA and Luxaviation.

In 2018, the strategic alliance will further extend the all-round collaboration into different areas, such as flight crews, FBO usage, MRO procurement, charter services, IT infrastructure and staff exchange programmes.

Luxaviation recently announced a collaboration with Paragon Aviation Group resulting in a network of 53 FBOs globally.

Luxaviation Helicopters, part of the Luxaviation Group, also acquired Starspeed, the global helicopter management, charter and training company. The deal, Luxaviation Helicopters’ first acquisition since launching in February 2017, positions the company as the world’s largest VIP and VVIP helicopter operator.

Luxaviation has also announced the opening of an additional AOC in San Marino. The new AOC gives business jet and helicopter owners a further solution for aircraft registration, asset management and commercial operation. Building on Luxaviation’s extensive global presence, the conclusion of the San Marino certification means customers now have 15 AOCs available to accommodate their specific needs.

BAA presently manages 13 types of aircraft from Gulfstream, Bombardier, Dassault, Airbus and Embraer. In the past 11 years, BAA has operated in almost every country in Asia-Pacific and beyond with an accumulated safe flight hours of over 100,000 hours, which over 12,200 hours in 2017. Through the strategic alliance with Luxaviation, customers can reach even farther and broader into Europe and the United States with ease. BAA has sought out and hired highly experienced flight crews from around the world to strengthen their ability to operate to some of the most challenging airports that clients may need to visit, the exclusive “Dedication Crew” is also well carried out BAA’s service concept “Service to the Owner, Care for the Aircraft”.

(L to R): Darren McGoldrick, Vice President of ExecuJet Asia Pacific; Patrick Hansen, CEO of Luxaviation Group; Zhu Yimin, the President of CMIG Aviation , which fully owns BAA, and Wang Wei, Executive Vice President of BAA.

BAA has continued to be at the forefront of the growth and development of China’s rapidly expanding business aviation market. To further strengthen its portfolio in the Greater China region, BAA launched its charter service in August 2017, and has already flown over 300 charter flights hours in the first quarter of 2018. Recently BAA established its 12th and 13th bases in Guangzhou and Nanjing, and attained the Joint Maintenance Management (JMM) qualification which pursuant to the Cooperation Arrangement on Mutual Acceptance of Approval of Aircraft Maintenance Organization between CAA China, CAD Hong Kong and AAC Macau.

In 2018, BAA has accomplished The International Standard for Business Aircraft Operations (IS-BAO) audit, which has been accepted as the highest standard for operation safety and professionalization of business aviation. BAA has also obtained the highest rating “Platinum” of ARGUS, which is an auditing firm for international business aviation jointly authorized by IATA and IBAC.

BAA also opened its new AOC at the Shenzhen headquarters in January 2018. The AOC is the command center of business solution and flight operation, cover an area of 360 square meters, setting 24 seats ranging from FPLs, Tickets/Hotels, Visas, Flight Scheduling, Maintenance Control , Customer Services etc. The modernization of the AOC marks BAA’s commitment to lead Business Aviation into the future.

The President of CMIG Aviation, which fully owns BAA, Mr. Zhu Yimin, said: “It’s a highly complementary service offering that has undoubtedly enhanced our client’s international traveling experience. We will be extending cooperation with Luxaviation in the next 12 months to ensure that we continue to stay ahead, anticipating our customers’ needs and delivering best in class services.”

Patrick Hansen, CEO of Luxaviation Group added: “Our partnership with BAA has proved a great success. With our combined expertise we are delivering premium services across charter, FBO, maintenance, aircraft management and aircraft transactions stretching from Europe, Asia, Australasia, Africa, the Middle East, to the Caribbean and Latin America.”