Metrojet Hong Kong to add Gulfstream G650 in Q1 2015

Gulfstream G650 flying

Hong Kong-based aircraft operator Metrojet will add the first Hong Kong-registered Gulfstream G650 to its aircraft fleet.

Gulfstream G650 flying.

Metrojet, a Hong Kong-based operator and aircraft management company, has announced that it will add the first Hong Kong-registered Gulfstream G650 to its fleet of managed corporate aircraft during the first quarter of 2015.

Although Metrojet was unable to confirm details of the aircraft due to confidentially issues, the aircraft is thought to be the first of two G650s ordered by billionaire Hong Kong real estate investor Joseph Lau.

Lau, whose fortune is estimated by Forbes to be $4.3 billion, was one of the first individuals to order a Boeing 787 Dreamliner for corporate usage, with the order being placed under the name of Sky Peace. This order was later cancelled in 2009 – as Lau was apparently unhappy with continuing delays in the 787 programme – and orders were placed with Gulfstream instead for two G650 private jets.

The Metrojet fleet, based mainly at Hong Kong’s Chek Lap Kok International Airport, already includes six Gulfstream G550s, three Gulfstream G450s and one Gulfstream G200.

As well as the new G650, Hong Kong Metrojet also operates a Gulfstream G450 and Gulfstream a G200 from a satellite base at Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

“The addition of the G650 to our fleet is a major milestone for Metrojet. It will be a ‘first of type’ in Hong Kong, and it also means that across our fleet of diversified aircraft, we are able to offer our clients the most complete business aviation range in Asia,” says Björn Näf, chief executive officer of Metrojet.

Upcoming G650 deliveries to other non-US companies include JC Bamford in the UK, Rashid Engineering of Saudi Arabia and ArcelorMittal of Luxembourg, which will register its G650 in Denmark.