Industry Insights

The last, but certainly not least (for 2023), member of our Fastest Sales Team in the World is Mick Doohan. Otherwise known as our President for New Zealand and Australia, Mick is a five-time MotoGP World Champion. In his interview, he explains the synergies between the high stakes racing world and fast-paced business aviation environment.

Can you introduce yourself, and your relationship with Jetcraft?

I’m Mick Doohan, President of Jetcraft Australia and New Zealand. Many years ago, I was a motorcycle racer, winning five MotoGP world championships in quick succession between 1994 and 1998. During this time, I also bought my first private jet to fly to different competitions – marking the start of my exposure to business aviation and my journey into charter and FBO ownership which eventually led to my partnership with Jetcraft.

Read more →

Jetcraft Commercial, is responding to high demand for Dash 8-400 turboprops by finalizing multiple deals to buy and sell the aircraft worldwide.

Raphael Haddad, President, Jetcraft Commercial, says: “Jetcraft Commercial has a global presence, financial strength and strategic prowess, which allows us to identify and rapidly react to shifts in market demand. In our recent Dash 400 deals, we’ve purchased sought-after fleets and quickly secured buyers.

“The high speed and performance, as well as the higher density of the Dash 400 perfectly meets the needs of developing domestic and regional travel markets, particularly for airlines operating in landlocked countries, and we’re seeing interest from Central Asia, Europe and Africa. Internationally, there is a growing appetite for regional aircraft with this kind of flexibility and efficiency.”

Read more →

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the Collins ‘Word of the Year’ – which comes as no surprise as the technology increasingly dominates our personal and professional lives. London has even just played host to the first AI Safety Summit, where during a fireside chat between Elon Musk and UK Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, Musk stated that AI is “the most disruptive force in human history”.

However, AI isn’t a new notion and within aviation, airlines, MROs and other operators have been using the technology for fleet optimization, flight planning and ground operations for several years now. For example, aircraft manufacturers and service technicians use AI software and robots and chatbots to streamline assembly and maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) processes.

Read more →

The next member of our Fastest Sales Team in the World is Jack Doohan. While Jack isn’t an official member of the Jetcraft sales team, he’s a Formula 2 driver for Virtuosi Racing and reserve driver for BWT Alpine Formula 1, and most importantly, a partner and friend of Jetcraft.

Can you introduce yourself, and your relationship with Jetcraft?

My name is Jack Doohan and I’m a Formula 2 driver for Virtuosi Racing, which is part of the Alpine Academy.  I’m also a reserve driver for the BWT Alpine Formula 1 team. I’m fortunate to have a personal partnership with Jetcraft. I appreciate their support, and I’m excited about our future together.

How long have you been racing for?

I come from a motorsport family and my dad, Mick Doohan (five-time MotoGP World Champion), certainly influenced my path, but racing has always been something I wanted to do. We have a kart track at our home in Australia, so I’ve been driving since I was three or four years old and racing since I was eight. For as long as I can remember, my world has revolved around both two and four wheels, so competing felt like a natural choice for me. Luckily, I took the safer route.

Did you always see yourself entering the racing world?

My life has always been about racing, I never really considered any other path, and I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t thinking about becoming a racing driver. That remains the case, even today. While I do have plans outside of racing in my distant future, my certainty in wanting to take this route and be the best that I can be has never wavered.

Read more →

Having heard from Pascal Bachmann last month, it’s now time to hear from the next member of our Fastest Sales Team in the World – our Owner and Chairman of the Board, Jahid Fazal-Karim.

Why did you decide to start racing?

I started racing shortly after Jetcraft sponsored a GT racing team. The owner of the team said, “As you’re here, you might as well drive.” I had done karting and circuits for fun in the past, but never driven competitively or seriously. I began training in 2021, and in ’22, I had my first race season in GT4. I’m now competing in GT3, sharing a car with Pascal Bachmann, our SVP Sales, EMEA.

What do you enjoy the most about racing?

When you’re in the car, you can’t afford to think about anything else. Throughout the day, my brain is occupied with a million thoughts, but I simply can’t do that while driving or I might crash. So, besides the obvious sporting elements, such as the adrenaline rush and the thrill of the competitiveness, what truly matters for me is being in the moment and completely focused on one task.

What personality traits make for a successful racing driver?

I don’t think it’s exclusive to racing but more about athletes at a competitive level – the leaders have talent, like so many others, but it’s their application to the sport that sets them apart. Their dedication, determination, and attention to detail make all the difference to the level of their success.

Read more →

The reopening of commercial aviation in Asia has inevitably followed a different timeline to Europe.

While standardization of border crossing regulations in Asia have lagged behind the rest of the world, becoming a point of friction when it comes to travel resuming, demand has picked up again. The China Air Transport Association (CATA) is claiming aviation has returned to near pre-pandemic level, while software business Sabre has identified significant spikes in demand for flights into China as Covid restrictions were relaxed and tourist visas were issued earlier this year. Meanwhile, domestic airlines in India carried a record 13 million passengers in March, according to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation Data and the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam has predicted the country’s air traffic will recover to 2019 levels this year.

Ultimately, while the bounce back is incomplete and imbalanced, we can see some green shoots of recovery, meaning aviation businesses can respond smartly to seize new opportunities.

Read more →

The importance of face-to-face meetings and the role of aviation as an engine of business growth was underlined by Ever Forward, 2023’s Pre-Owned Business Jet Market Forecast.

Our industry-leading market intelligence shows transaction values hit a record US$16.3B in 2022 – in part due to the resurgence of corporate aviation – with the corporate buyer roaring back to life following a dip during the pandemic. The share of our buyers from the corporate sector reached 60% in the last year, demonstrating the value businesses place on jet ownership to facilitate in-person meetings.

Nothing beats meeting face-to-face when it comes to finalizing major deals, with video conferencing only ever a temporary substitute. Whether it’s a company acquisition or a new product launch, face-to-face interactions offer the ability to read body language and build relationships, which create the foundations for success. Equally, the return of industry events, such as EBACE and NBAA, underlines t...

Read more →

On average, aircraft listed exclusively with Jetcraft sell 42% faster than the industry standard, however, that’s not the only reason we’re the home of the Fastest Sales Team in the World. It’s easy to overlook the similarities between high performance sports and selling, acquiring and trading high-value assets but with so many of our team having racing ties, we thought we’d take a closer look, connect the dots and share the speedy stories from within the Jetcraft family.

First up in our series, you all know him as our SVP Sales in EMEA, but we also know him as rally driving extraordinaire – it’s Pascal Bachmann.

Pascal, why did you decide to start racing? 

I discovered my love for racing when I was living in Lausanne, Switzerland. My friends and I would take my Mini out driving in the mountains on snowy nights and this is where I discovered the exhilaration of testing my driving ability.

As Antoine de Saint Exupéry, French aviator and pioneer of the Aeropostale once said, “It is by measuring oneself against the machine that a man learns his true value.” It’s this philosophy that drives me to do my best.

I vividly remember watching my first rally, witnessing the crews launching themselves through the dark night in pursuit of the fastest time and knowing “this is what I want to do.” Despite financial constraints, my friends and I gathered funds for a used car, modified it, and entered the same rally the following year. Alongside my co-pilot, we had no idea what we were doing, but it was exhilarating and crazy.

How long have you been racing for? 

My racing journey started in 1987. There were intermittent years when I couldn’t afford to participate, but whenever I accumulated enough funds, I eagerly joined in and so did my wife, Valerie. We each had our own cars and co-driver, and we would enter the same rallies. I remember one year we had to take our newborn daughter with us during a race recce, so we stopped every two hours or so to give her a bottle and change her.

Read more →

The nature of our industry means no two aircraft transactions are the same. There are not only different regulatory bodies and regional considerations, but customers have varying internal capabilities and requirements that need to be accounted for. 

Transactions become yet more complex when sourcing both the aircraft and its parts to provide a complete solution for a client.  

Take a recent deal Jetcraft Commercial completed with an undisclosed major international airline. We bought 25 Bombardier CRJ–200s and helped turn aircraft grounded by the pandemic – which required new engines – into valuable assets. This was possible thanks to the power of our network, which allowed us to source engines and offer potential buyers an aircraft that was ready to fly.  

Completing complex transactions such as these – when multiple parts of an aircraft are involved in the trade – requires the right approach.  

Read more →