Taking to the skies

Not too many computer geeks get sent off for flying lessons by their employers, but that's exactly what happened to Ralph Eisenschmidt whose company has set up Bahrain's newest private jet service.

The 42-year-old Canadian is chief operating officer and acting CEO of MAE Jet Charters which was launched earlier this year and specialises in providing private charter aircraft to VIPs and others who appreciate the increased levels of security, convenience and service on offer.

But Mr Eisenschmidt's first calling was not aviation. He originally graduated from university as a software design engineer.

Taken on by an airline charter company he helped develop a fuel conservation system for planes but when it came time for the systen to be certified it needed someone who could both fly a plane and code the software.

So Mr Eisenschmidt was dispatched back to school to get his commercial pilot's licence.

However, having completed the certification, he was not tempted to keep flying calling himself 'a nerd at heart' and the next few years were spent developing the likes of flight operating systems and dispatch software for various aircraft.

With the advent of the no-frills airlines in Europe and North America another new market opened, developing and implementing systems to allow electronic booking and ticketing.

And when Air Arabia decided to set up such a system in the Middle East, it contacted Mr Eisenschmidt, who by that time had established his own company.

He said: "Obviously this region presented its own challenges, there was both the, then, lack of widespread internet access and also the lack of access to the credit cards needed to make an online booking.

"Air Arabia was targeting the budget market, people for whom airline travel would not usually be an option and it wanted a way for them to access the service.

"We developed operating software that would allow them to make their booking by phone which would reserve their seat for 24 hours during which time they had to pay in cash at either the booking office, a post office or the local cold store!

"We set it up in 2003 and it's a system that is continuing to work very well for Air Arabia."

At that point Mr Eisenschmidt and wife Charlene were planning to go home but a call from Jazeera Airways to set up a similar system, followed by further requests from Viva in Macau and Samaa in Riyadh, kept the couple in the Middle East.

And in 2007 his company was rebranded as the Mena Aerospace Group, a 100 per cent Bahraini-owned entity with Shaikh Ahmed bin Ali Al Khalifa as the majority shareholder.

He said: "By that stage we had amassed a great deal of information about the aviation industry in the Gulf so developed a business plan for this group of companies to provide a unique set of services filling various niches in the region."

The group consists of Mena Consulting Services, a business unit active in the aviation and consulting sector advising on high level projects such as the setting up of new airlines.

Mena Trading and Agencies provides representation, project oversight and account management services to the aircraft industry.

The Mena Airline Support Centre is a business unit managing a business and operational support centre for airlines operating through Bahrain International Airport.

SA Mena Avionics is a joint venture with Scandinavian Avionics offering an internationally-approved aircraft repair station also at the island's airport and other services including pilot training.

And then there is the new airline MAE Jet Charters and MAE Aircraft Management which holds the necessary Aircraft Operator Certificate to run it.

The charter company runs on the basis of managing private aircraft for their owners, which can then be used for charter clients in the down time.

It currently has a fleet of three impressive craft: the Challenger Bombardier 300 which seats nine with a crew of three, including two pilots; an Embraer Legacy which can carry up to 14 passengers plus a crew of three and also a Boeing 737, an aircraft which would usually accommodate 130 but has been adapted in luxury to hold just 18.

Mr Eisenschmidt said: "We're aiming at the sort of people who would usually be travelling first class. When you look at the cost of that compared with the prices we can offer as well as the benefits in terms of airport congestion, check-in times, connection times and flight delays compared with the convenience, comfort, privacy and near unlimited baggage capacity available when flying private, it becomes a very attractive option." You have to admit it, the 'nerd' definitely has a point.