Wallan Aviation is benefiting from the kingdom’s excellent air transport infrastructure.

Chairman of Wallan Aviation Saad Wallan has always been involved in the transportation industry. Like many of his successful fellow nationals, Captain Wallan believes that honesty, integrity, generosity and hard work are invaluable attributes in conducting business. He started buying and selling cars while still at school, and soon set up an automobile dealership, which has now evolved into major company: Wallan Trading. Steadily increasing business commitments across the country (as well as a stint working for Saudia) prompted Captain Wallan to take up flying and to buy a plane; the natural consequence was the birth of a private aviation company designed to fulfill the needs of Saudi Arabia’s business elite.

Saudi businessmen and companies now own in excess of 60 private executive jets, indicating an upward trend in the private aviation market. According to Captain Wallan, owning a private jet is beginning to be viewed more as a necessity than a luxury by the country’s wealthy entrepreneurs. “The market is excellent because of Saudi Arabia’s size. Transportation to the large metropolitan cities is easy to come across, but much of the business is conducted in some of the smaller cities such as Tabouk and Ha’il. Businessmen who wish to travel to these cities are our target market,” says the company’s chairman.

SAAD WALLAN Chairman of Wallan Aviation

In addition to operating manned jets and managing private aircraft for other business leaders, Wallan Aviation is the sole agent of LearJet and Cessna Citation aircraft in Saudi Arabia, the Gulf, Jordan and Yemen. “In the last three years we have sold 25 airplanes, which is a considerable result. Currently we have nine airplanes on order that will be delivered during 2005 and 2006,” says Captain Wallan.

The company prides itself primarily on the quality of its service, which stems from the fact that the chairman knows his market as both a pilot and a businessman. “Because of our excellent service, our customers develop a certain loyalty towards us and trust us to provide them with more airplanes whenever they wish to upgrade their fleet. We are doing very well already, but in the next four to five years I believe that our business will soar,” he explains. Indeed, commitment to high business standards has earned the firm the 2004 Saudi Business Achievement Award in the field of aviation.

Reforms in the public aviation sector notwithstanding, Captain Wallan believes that demand for private aviation is on the increase, and that investment opportunities are plentiful. His own experience has led him to trust and appreciate partnerships with U.S. companies, as they have a record of transferring know-how to the firms they do business with, but he would welcome any international investor to Saudi Arabia’s air transportation industry. “The way we conduct business is the same as everywhere else. The only difference I see is that the opportunities in the field of aviation here are greater,” he notes.