Tailored, Flexible, Transparent Services

Amber Aviation prides itself on being able to provide tailored, flexible, and transparent services for all aspects of business jet management. The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed the company and its team to take these values even more to heart – being flexible during times when the operating environment has been restrictive, being transparent for the sake of its clients to allow them to understand the current environment and tailoring new solutions to each individual case.

Asian Sky Group spoke with Yang Hongjie of Amber Aviation’s Aircraft Operations Team, along with Zhou Xiaozhou and Li Minghao of the Company’s Charter Sales business, who all discussed the need to stay flexible and adapt, while providing quality service during this unprecedented period.

Amber Aviation Charter Services

Amber Aviation currently has a fleet of 12 business jets. Its charter fleet includes the Falcon 900LX, Global Express, Challenger 605 and F2000LX, all of which have a Part-135 commercial operating license. The aircraft are based in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Macao, and are under a combination of domestic and foreign registrations.

How has Amber Aviation dealt with the ever-changing travel restrictions?

Since the outbreak, the biggest challenge for us has been to meet the changing requirements of epidemic prevention and control in various countries and regions. This has had a direct and major impact on the operational restrictions on aircraft.

In order to deliver accurate and reliable information to our passengers, our Operation Team constantly updates procedures for epidemic prevention and control measures – implemented across the region. We then seek contact with local customs, quarantine & immigration officials to obtain firsthand reliable information. This information plays a vital role in the development of the customer’s itinerary and ensures the precise implementation of each of our flights, ensuring safe and smooth operation.

Is there a flight that stands out during this period?

The most memorable story I have was in late March when we needed to pick up customers from central US. We received the clients request on the 22nd at 17:25 and we took off at 11:18 from Hong Kong on 23rd — in less than 18 hours. Member from different departments were actively involved and there were numerous factors to consider from the crew, epidemic prevention material preparation, flight permits, ground service arrangements at various airports, etc.

However, our original planned route was to transfer passengers back to Hong Kong on the 25th, then bring them back home through another available aircraft. It was not until the aircraft landed at the US airport that the Hong Kong Government – on the 25th – announced its border closure. Our team immediately planned to divert the flight to the Macau airport, but the next day Macau closed its border, as well.

We started our contingency plan by replacing the previous flight crew team with a backup crew team so that we could perform the flight to directly fly back to mainland China. During this whole trip, any small change could affect the flight. This required our operation team, flight team, security team and crew to work closely, which ultimately paid off as the passenger ended up back home safely. This flight was reflective of our team spirit. We worked against the clock and faced many challenges, but won the acknowledgement of the customer, which made all our efforts worth it.

How does Amber Aviation stay competitive in the charter market?

Amber’s charter services benefit from its operating security system, flexible mission applications, and local Chinese and foreign crewmembers, which means we don’t have added visa challenges when flying local or international. And, most important, is that we meet all requirements of Part-135 regulations which ensures a safe flight and operation.

I believe our clients chose us for their char ter flights for various reasons. Our flight quotations are clear and transparent, which come with a standardized contract, to bring customers a sense of security and at the same time we have a certain degree of flexibility, which makes for smooth communication and cooperation.

For each charter flight, we hold ourselves responsible and accountable. When encountering any special circumstances or unexpected situations, we consider the customer’s perspective, then actively seek solutions. For example, when an aircraft encounters technical issues we are quick to arrange evacuation, while looking for alternative transportation. If we can’t eliminate the issue with a short turnaround we provide an alternative solution immediately to minimize the impact to the customer.

How has the charter flight experience changed for clients?

The changing prevention and control requirements means there are now more factors to consider when flying. Clients are now required to show a relevant health certificate, and health code, as well as the past 14 days of residence history prior to flying. This documentation needs to be presented several times during the boarding process. To a certain extent this brings some inconvenience to the passengers.

In response to this situation, we inform passengers of the most updated information and requirements in the relevant travel areas as soon as we are able to do so. We assist passengers with registering the QR code and other health applications to efficiently complete the declaration.

In the early stage of the outbreak, we set up an epidemic prevention and control office. For each mission our crew is equipped with adequate protective equipment and they are required to protect themselves during the whole flight. We’ve developed a professional on-board disinfection process, strictly operated after each the flight. We also promptly inform guests of the protective measures taken by our crew.

According to our operational experience during this period, the biggest demands for guest travel during the outbreak are health and flight safety.

When do you expect the charter market to fully recover?

This may be the most difficult question the industry is facing right now. Understanding the opportunities and challenges the industry is facing, we are confident in the recovery of the charter market.

Because of the the restrictions brought on by the pandemic, resulting in the international operations left at a standstill, the current market demand is for repatriation and personnel transfer only, which is not the traditional sense of charter flights. The stagnation of international operations means the market is relying only on domestic flights to restore the entire charter market to the original level, which will be very difficult.

Of course, we are also pleased to see that with China’s economic gradually returned to normal, domestic charter demand is gradually restored, which has boosted our confidence.

At present, the entire industry is looking forward to the global outbreak to be ceased, when international flights can be restored. We expect that the charter flight demand will be fully released by then and we are prepared for this moment.

About Amber Aviation

 Amber Aviation was established in February 2017, obtaining a CAAC general aviation operating license in June and a CAAC Part 135 operating certificate in August of the same year. As a testament to the company’s achievements within a short period of time, Amber Aviation was named the fastest growing business jet company for three consecutive years in 2017, 2018 and 2019.

Headquartered in Shenzhen, the company has Hong Kong and Macao subsidiaries, as well as branches in Beijing, Shanghai, and operational bases in Tianjin and Ningbo. The company’s core business units are aircraft management and charter services. To complement this business, it also provides operational support, crew support, and aircraft maintenance support.

Mr. Chang Qiusheng founded Amber Aviation, after a career full of firsts within China’s business aviation industry. Deemed the country’s first business jet business management personnel, Mr. Chang Qiusheng established the Air China business jet division, followed by Business Aviation Asia (BAA) – which grew to become the largest business jet management fleet in Asia at that time.

He then founded Amber Aviation to reshape the current industry, based on the values of “tailored, flexible, professional, open and transparent”.

www.amber-aviation.com