Gama Aviation has not taken on any new aircraft recently in the Asia Pacific region, as the company says its priority is helping current clients to navigate the complexities that the pandemic has thrown up. One such complexity was FedEx's relocation of all its Hong Kong-based based pilots to the west coast of the USA, putting them on 45-day rotation and flying families from HK to the US to see them, rather than having them quarantine in HK and become unavailable.

“As we have seen with FedEx’s operations, it is not as simple any more as flying from point A to B to C,” says head of commercial at Gama Aviation Asia David Wearmouth. “The effect on the client and aircrew can be severe, whether on entry to the destination or arrival back to base.”

Ultra long range aircraft continue to be popular choices for owners: “The Bombardier Global series and the Gulfstream G650 and G650ER are often desired. For clients in the region, they provide an excellent platform for intra-China flights as well as having the comfort and duration for flights to Australia, the west coast of the US and into Europe. The supply chain and maintenance facilities are also good, so the region is well covered with the support required to get the best from these aircraft. Our sister company CASL (China Aircraft Services Ltd) also offers a strong maintenance care programme (MCP) for these aircraft at Hong Kong International airport.”

Gama does not fly charter in the region; all its missions are flown depending on clients' schedules.  
Wearmouth continues: “For over a year now we have run a COVID-19 meeting at the global leadership level, which identifies business threats related to the pandemic and works to mitigate those we have control of. This has seen the issuance of a variety of policies and requirements that are closely tied to COVID-19 best practice and WHO, CDC, European and UK government guidelines. These are designed to keep our people safe and assist them with their health and wellbeing during what has been a 14-month period for our teams in Asia.

“As well as keeping our people safe, we have a duty of care to our clients and have introduced a variety of measures to support a safe environment to travel. That said, this pandemic relies on a number of factors: the confidence to travel, the ability to arrive in a country and the conditions to do so, confidence in staying within that country and people’s preparedness to meet. These are among some of the variables that people will be thinking about before they travel.”

Gama has reorganised its global business into three dedicated business units: Business Aviation, Special Mission and Technology & Outsourcing. Its Hong Kong operation is dedicated to business aviation clients. “This allows us to place even greater emphasis on the needs of our clients and allows our clients to have a single point of contact locally but access to a wide variety of services within the global group,” explains Wearmouth. “Once confidence returns and borders open, this will allow seamless service and accountability for flights leaving Hong Kong into the US and other destinations around the world where we have a strong presence. We think this is critical to serve clients with ultra-long-range aircraft that require not only local support for intra-China routes but also international support on the popular VHHH to VNY or LAS routes.”