Rizon to centre its Gulf activity from Doha HQ

Bahraini biz jet operator Rizon is to centre its Gulf operations at its new Doha, Qatar headquarters.

“We are reducing the size of our Bahrain and Sharjah offices to consolidate our back office and administrative functions in our new headquarters in Qatar,” said Rizon Group CEO Will Curtis.

The move appears to be inline with Rizon’s commitment to Doha, where it is constructing a brand new 120,000 sq ft hangar and fixed base operation (FBO) at Doha International Airport, due to open in March 2010. The building is modular so that it can be dismantled and moved to the New Doha International Airport when it opens early in the next decade.

Curtis said many of the staff in its Bahrain and Sharjah offices will relocate to the Doha office to take up their existing posts there. “The move will enable us to reduce our costs by 15 to 20%, while simultaneously improving our administrative efficiency to cope with our growing business. Rizon’s offices in Bahrain and Sharjah will remain open for sales and marketing activities, but the centralisation in Doha will enable us to improve accessibility to the services we offer to our clients.”

And it is in the GCC that Rizon sees signs of the market recovering. It reports a pronounced upswing in its volumes of charter business in the GCC over the past two months owing to an increase in market share and the recent service entry of its Qatar based Challenger 605 where it says it has had a steady uptake.