Private jet travel provider XOJet has secured nearly $2.5 billion in financing ahead of a major expansion of the private jet provider’s operations. The funding amounts to the largest publicly announced financing package in business aviation history.

The cash injection will see the San Francisco Bay Area-based company launch a major international initiative focused on serving the growing demand for private air travel in the Middle East. XOJet has agreed in principle to partner with Tasameem Real Estate Company, LLC, a major investment firm out of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates for this separate joint venture.

Tasameem, XOJet management, and its Wall Street backers TPG provided $85 million of the total $2.46 billion in the form of an equity investment. The remainder is composed of loans from a variety of outfits. Not the least of these is $400 million from Export Development Canada, Canada’s export credit agency, to support the purchase of Canadian made Bombardier Challenger jets— which along with Citation X models will be the mainstays of the XOJet fleet.

The financing will become available to XOJet over the course of two rounds of funding. The first $964 million is going to the jet provider immediately, with the remainder being made available when the company moves forward with its joint venture with Tasameen, expected later this year.

XOJet’s expansion into the international market seems like a prudent investment. The annual Honeywell Business Jet Forecast predicts that by 2010 over half of aircraft demand will come from outside of North America.

While this major financing certainly makes XOJet an even larger player in private aviation—the company has experienced prodigious growth since its founding in 2006— it will still be looking up at industry leader NetJets. XOJet has followed a business model focused on optimizing and exploiting greater efficiencies than its rivals. Now with this sizable infusion, it looks to compete on scale as well.