The Singapore Air Show, currently underway, was the setting for an announcement that could change the face of aviation on the world’s largest continent. The Briley Group, bolstered by a significant investment from the Indian giant, Tata, is set to launch Asia’s largest fractional private jet carrier, Bjets. Bjets will offer fractional ownership and block charter, as well as aircraft manager services. The demand for private jets in Asia has lagged behind the region’s rising economic fortunes, while executive aircraft sales have swelled in the mature markets of North America and Europe. In the last few years, the Middle East has been a burgeoning growth sector for private jets sales, as the region’s oil wealth has translated into a high demand for luxury travel. As of January, there were no more than 400 executive jets in all of East Asia, a number which is easily exceeded in California alone.

Private jet travel looks to make good business sense for Asia. The continent’s vast size, and the limited number of commercial airline routes that invariably run through large hubs, makes a private aircraft a strong value proposition for executives doing business in the region. Two key factors have hampered the development of private aviation in the region. Governments across Asia have invested heavily in developing commercial air carriers. While governments have hardly skimped in shelling out for huge aircraft orders for national carriers and massive international airports, they have been reluctant to invest the relatively small sums needed to build the FBOs, or private aircraft fields, necessary for private aviation. In nations like China and India, government red tape has restricted private jet travel amid a mass of archaic rules and regulations. Meanwhile, a lack of financing options has made it difficult for individuals and corporations to secure the necessary funding to buy a jet. A lack of expertise in aircraft valuation and a general wariness on the part of banks has made most loan offers unattractive to potential buyers. The arrival of Bjets into the private jets market in Asia should be a watershed moment for the industry. Indeed the fractional model is an excellent fit for Asia, where corporations have been clamoring for business jet travel options but have been stymied by the lack of ownership options. Bjets, which will be headquartered in the favorable business environment of Singapore, has wasted little time in establishing itself as major player. Already Bjets has signed orders worth $600 million to comprise its fleet of 50 factory fresh jets. Bjets is set to receive the first of its 20 Cessna Citation CJ2+ jets and 20 Hawker 850XP and 950XP aircraft later this year. The order will make Bjets the largest private jet operator in Asia by the end of 2008, when the company will boast a total of 15 jets in its fleet.