ExecuJet Haite Wins Ground Handling Rights at Beijing Daxing Airport

ExecuJet Haite has secured ground handling rights at Beijing Daxing International Airport, where it already operates a maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility. The company said it will begin hiring for its ground handling team immediately.

At Daxing, ExecuJet Haite will provide line technician and customer support services similar to those it has offered at Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK) under a separate agreement signed two years ago. Its existing Daxing facility includes a climate-controlled hangar of 5,000 square meters (about 53,800 square feet), along with offices and workshops, and the hangar can hold up to eight mid-size to large business jets at one time.

General Manager Paul Desgrosseilliers suggested the new services extend the company's existing maintenance and line operations and reflect its commitment to supporting customers in China. He said the company aims to work with CBM to make Daxing a leading entry point for business aviation.

Daxing has invested in more than 300,000 square meters (about 3.2 million square feet) of business aviation space, including a fixed base operation (FBO), MRO facilities, aircraft parking and hangars. According to the companies, this makes it the largest business aviation center in the Asia-Pacific region.

CBM operates the FBO in tandem with ExecuJet Haite. The three-story terminal has 12 VIP rooms, offices and lounges, with separate channels for domestic passengers, international passengers and special mission charters, including flights carrying heads of state.

Founded in December 2010 and based in Tianjin, ExecuJet Haite is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sichuan-based Haite Group. It offers line and base maintenance for Gulfstream, Dassault Falcon, Embraer and Bombardier business jets, as well as line support for the Boeing Business Jet and Airbus Corporate Jet.

Its other services include aircraft-on-ground (AOG) support across Asia, heavy inspections, structural and composite repairs, avionics modifications, aircraft painting, interior repairs and component repairs, including battery servicing.

Ground handling and maintenance are usually bought as separate services, but at a purpose-built business aviation hub they tend to converge. When one provider holds the hangar and the line crew, an aircraft that lands for a quick turn and one that needs a technician's attention are handled by the same team, which shortens the hand-offs that otherwise cost operators time on the ramp.

The Daxing award also mirrors the arrangement ExecuJet Haite already has at Beijing Capital, which gives the company a service footprint at both of the capital's major airports. For visiting operators, that means the same line-support model on either side of the city, a practical consideration when flight plans shift between the two fields.

The next concrete milestone is the hiring the company says starts immediately; the size of that team and the date handling services go live are the details that will show how quickly the new rights translate into operations.