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Private Jet Operator AirX Wins Saudi Aviation Clearance
The Malta-based aircraft charter company has formalized entry into the Kingdom as private jet traffic climbs.
Malta-headquartered private aviation operator AirX has secured approval from Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation, clearing the way to base and operate aircraft in the Kingdom.
The sign-off marks AirX’s formal expansion into Saudi Arabia after years of serving the market through international charters. With the license in hand, the company plans to increase aircraft availability locally and deepen relationships with corporate and government clients.
“Saudi Arabia represents one of the most strategic and dynamic aviation markets globally,” said Houssam Hazzoury, Group CEO of AirX. “With Vision 2030 driving unprecedented growth in tourism, investment, and international engagement, we see a clear opportunity to support the Kingdom’s premium private aviation sector with world-class long-range aircraft capability, safety standards, and service excellence”.
AirX operates a fleet of 20 aircraft, spanning heavy jets, Lineage models and widebody VIP configurations. The company is entering the Saudi market with support from AstroLabs, which advises foreign firms setting up in the Gulf.
The move lands as business aviation traffic accelerates across the Middle East. Saudi Arabia recorded 23,612 business jet flights in 2024, up 24 percent year on year. The rise tracks with Vision 2030’s push to attract global companies, investors and tourists, alongside major aviation infrastructure spending.
Relocation trends are also reshaping demand. Reports point to a 700 percent increase in millionaire relocations (a figure of 2,400) in 2025, adding fuel to premium charter activity. The Kingdom’s private aviation market is forecast to reach $2 billion by the end of the decade.
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For AirX, the GACA approval is operational, rather than simply symbolic. It allows aircraft to be positioned in-market rather than flown in ad hoc, tightening response times and expanding capacity across Riyadh, Jeddah and emerging hubs such as the NEOM project.
“AirX’s expansion comes at a pivotal time as Saudi Arabia consolidates its position as a global aviation and tourism hub,” said Fouad Fattal, Vice President, Commercial at AstroLabs.
As more multinationals anchor regional headquarters in Riyadh, competition among charter operators is set to intensify. AirX is betting that scale, long-range capability and early regulatory alignment will secure it a larger slice of the Kingdom’s fast-maturing private aviation segment.
News
Microsoft Plans $10 Billion-Plus Gulf Expansion Despite Iran Conflict
Security is shaping Microsoft’s approach, from resilience work with governments to what it will say about how the money splits by country.
Microsoft is planning more than $10 billion of investment across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait through 2030, Vice Chair and President Brad Smith told Reuters, calling the spending schedule aggressive. The Iranian conflict that began on February 28 has not persuaded the company to scale back.
“We’re sustaining all the investments we planned to make before this conflict started, and we are in fact adding to them,” Smith said. The $10 billion-plus total does not, however, show how large those additions are.
The investment, which Smith described as part of Microsoft’s continued infrastructure expansion, is aimed at cloud and AI infrastructure and at the company’s growing regional operations. Microsoft also intends to put more than $400 million into subsea and terrestrial connectivity across the Middle East by 2030.
The spending fits the region’s own ambitions too. Gulf governments have been investing heavily in AI infrastructure as part of a push to diversify their economies beyond oil and gas and turn themselves into global technology hubs. Major cloud and AI providers have been drawn in part by the land and relatively low-cost energy on offer.
Microsoft is widening its partnerships with regional AI companies, though not on identical terms. In 2024, it invested $1.5 billion in Abu Dhabi-based G42 for a minority stake, and Smith currently sits on G42’s board. Saudi Arabia’s Humain and Qatar’s Qai are working with Microsoft on selected priority areas, but Smith said the company does not plan to make capital investments in either.
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The conflict has added another strand to Microsoft’s work in the region. Since it began, Smith said, the company has supported regional partners with digital resilience assessments, and it is now working with Gulf countries through a digital resilience initiative focused on preparedness and the protection of critical data.
So far, the company has given no country-by-country breakdown of the investment, citing security among other factors. So while the headline figure is public, how Microsoft divides the spending among the four countries is not.
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