Jet Aviation is a

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (B ...

-based provider of

business aviation Business aircraft are aircraft typically used by companies and corporations to transport people or goods related to the needs of said businesses. Most business aircraft are general aviation aircraft variants of piston or turboprop or bus ...

services. Founded in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

in 1967, it provides aircraft sales,

maintenance Maintenance may refer to: Biological science * Maintenance of an organism * Maintenance respiration Non-technical maintenance * Alimony, also called ''maintenance'' in British English * Champerty and maintenance, two related legal doct ...

, and

charters A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the rec ...

using its fleet of more than 200 aircraft. Since 2008, Jet Aviation has been a subsidiary of

General Dynamics General Dynamics Corporation (GD) is an American publicly traded, aerospace and defense corporation headquartered in Reston, Virginia. As of 2020, it was the fifth-largest defense contractor in the world by arms sales, and 5th largest in the Uni ...

and employs approximately 4,000 staff across

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

, and the

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America, North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. ...

History

The late Carl W. Hirschmann established Jet Aviation in 1967 as a maintenance organization when he bought the former

Globe Air A globe is a spherical model of Earth, of some other celestial body, or of the celestial sphere. Globes serve purposes similar to maps, but unlike maps, they do not distort the surface that they portray except to scale it down. A model globe of ...

hangars in Basel, Switzerland, and opened the first maintenance facility for business aircraft in Europe. Two years later, he expanded the company and entered a new line of business by acquiring the

Pilatus Pilatus may refer to: People * Pontius Pilate (Latin: Pontius Pilatus, died 39 AD), Roman governor of Judea * Leontius Pilatus (died 1366), Greek Calabrian scholar * Rob Pilatus (1965–1998), artist and member of group Milli Vanilli Other uses * ...

maintenance and airline handling operations in

Zürich , neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon , twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco Z ...

and

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situa ...

. He also began offering aircraft charter and management services to European and Middle Eastern customers.

The 1970s

During the 1970s, the company expanded its offering to the European and Middle Eastern markets, including charters and aircraft management, establishing its first overseas maintenance facility in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in ...

in 1975. Two years later, the company introduced outfitting at its Basel facility. In 1979, it began FBO operations in

Jeddah Jeddah ( ), also spelled Jedda, Jiddah or Jidda ( ; ar, , Jidda, ), is a city in the Hejaz region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the country's commercial center. Established in the 6th century BC as a fishing village, Jeddah's pro ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the Ara ...

The 1980s

1980s brought further expansion to the company in Europe and the Middle East. More importantly, Jet Aviation successfully entered the U.S. market to become the first

global player A multinational company (MNC), also referred to as a multinational enterprise (MNE), a transnational enterprise (TNE), a transnational corporation (TNC), an international corporation or a stateless corporation with subtle but contrasting senses, i ...

in the business aviation industry. Since the mid-'80s, the company bought existing FBOs in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst t ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

and Palm Beach,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

. In 1988, the company added an FBO in

Teterboro Teterboro ( ) is a borough in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 67,New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

corporate marketplace. The same year, Jet Aviation acquired Teterboro-based Executive Air Fleet - the largest aircraft management and charter company in North America.

The 1990s

Jet Aviation, Basel, and the three U.S. FBOs in Boston/Bedford, Palm Beach and Teterboro were expanded to enhance these facilities' overall quality and services. In 1994, Jet Aviation was granted the right to expand its airline handling services in Zurich and Geneva to provide services to scheduled airlines and

IATA The International Air Transport Association (IATA ) is a trade association of the world's airlines founded in 1945. IATA has been described as a cartel since, in addition to setting technical standards for airlines, IATA also organized tarif ...

carriers. A major move into the Asian market was opening a maintenance and FBO facility in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

in 1995. Two more locations, including a maintenance facility in

Hannover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

, Germany, and a full-service FBO operation in 1999 at Love Field in

Dallas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

were added to Jet Aviation's global network.

The 2000s

In October 2005 Jet Aviation was acquired by the Permira Funds, which marked the end of 38 years of family entrepreneurship. Under new ownership, in March 2006, the company announced its acquisition of

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

-based Midcoast Aviation, one of the leading maintenance, repair and overhaul, modifications and completions companies in North America. After almost 40 years as part of the group, Jet Aviation sold its airline and cargo handling division in Switzerland on November 6, 2007 to

Dnata Dubai National Air Travel Agency ( ar, دناتا) (commonly known as dnata) is an Emirati airport services provider which provides aircraft ground handling, cargo, travel, and flight catering services across five continents. History dnata was ...

, the largest supplier of air travel services in the Middle East. Since December 2007 Jet Aviation has also provided line maintenance, defect rectification, and AOG services at Moscow's

Vnukovo International Airport Vnukovo, formally Vnukovo Andrei Tupolev International Airport (named after Andrei Tupolev) ( rus, links=no, Внуково, p=ˈvnukəvə) , is a dual-runway international airport located in Vnukovo District, southwest of the centre of Moscow ...

. In January 2008, Jet Aviation acquired U.S.-based maintenance and completions company Savannah Air Center located at the Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport. In Spring 2008, Jet Aviation and

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...

-based Deer Air, signed a joint venture to operate an FBO and line maintenance facility at Beijing's Capital International Airport. On November 5, 2008, the company was acquired by U.S. based

, headquartered in

Falls Church Falls Church is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 14,658. Falls Church is included in the Washington metropolitan area. Taking its name from The Falls Church, an 18th-century Churc ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are ...

. As part of General Dynamics, Jet Aviation operates as an independent business unit within the General Dynamics Aerospace Group.

Business Jets

Established in 2002, Business Jets Limited is a branch of Jet Aviation operating in the

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...

area. Based at

Hong Kong International Airport Hong Kong International Airport is Hong Kong's main airport, built on reclaimed land on the island of Chek Lap Kok, Hong Kong. The airport is also referred to as Chek Lap Kok International Airport or ''Chek Lap Kok Airport'', to distingui ...

, it provides chartered passenger services using its fleet of one

Bombardier BD-700 The Bombardier Global Express is a large cabin, 6,000 nmi / 11,100 km range business jet designed and manufactured by Bombardier Aviation (formerly Bombardier Aerospace). Announced in October 1991, it first flew on 13 October 1996, receiv ...

and two

Gulfstream G550 The Gulfstream G550 is a business jet aircraft produced by General Dynamics' Gulfstream Aerospace unit in Savannah, Georgia, US. The certification designation is GV-SP. A version with reduced fuel capacity was marketed as the G500. Gulfstre ...

aircraft.

Jet Aviation Malta

As of August 2019 Jet Aviation Malta operates 2

Boeing 737-700 The Boeing 737 Next Generation, commonly abbreviated as 737NG, or 737 Next Gen, is a narrow-body aircraft powered by two jet engines and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Launched in 1993 as the third generation derivative of the Boeing ...

(BBJ) aircraft.

References

External links

Jet Aviation
{{General Dynamics General Dynamics General aviation Airlines of Switzerland Airlines established in 1967 Swiss companies established in 1967 2008 mergers and acquisitions Companies based in Basel