In an exclusive interview with Travel Daily Media, Vilma Vaitiekunaite, Vice President – Passenger Division, Saudi Arabia at Chapman Freeborn, explains how the Kingdom’s private aviation market is evolving beyond luxury to become a critical enabler of business, investment and giga-project development. She also discusses changing traveller behaviour, the growing role of charter aviation in major events, and why Saudi Arabia is on track to become one of the world’s most significant business aviation markets.
TDM: Saudi Arabia has become one of the fastest-growing aviation markets globally. What has changed most in private aviation demand over the past few years?
VV: Saudi Arabia’s business aviation market is no longer just a luxury segment - it’s infrastructure for the country’s economic transformation. You can see that directly in the numbers. In 2024 alone, business jet movements surpassed 23,600 flights, up roughly 24% year-on-year, which is exceptional growth for this industry. But the really interesting story is where that growth is happening and what it says about the future of the Kingdom. Traditionally, Saudi business aviation was heavily weighted toward international movements - Europe, London, Geneva, Paris, the U.S., and regional GCC traffic. But the giga-project era is fundamentally changing the market structure. Projects like NEOM, The Red Sea Project, Diriyah Gate, and Qiddiya are creating entirely new domestic aviation corridors.
What’s fascinating is that domestic business jet traffic is now growing faster than international traffic. Domestic movements increased by roughly 26%, compared to around 15% internationally. That tells you the market is evolving from a traditional outbound wealth market into a highly active internal business mobility network. Executives, investors, project teams, government stakeholders, and international partners are moving constantly between Riyadh, Jeddah, NEOM, the Red Sea coast, and the Eastern Province. Riyadh especially is becoming the command centre of that movement.
From a passenger operations perspective, that changes everything. The expectation today is not simply luxury — it’s speed, flexibility, and connectivity between emerging economic zones. Business aviation becomes a productivity tool. A CEO can attend meetings in Riyadh, inspect a project site in NEOM, and be back the same evening. That operational efficiency is becoming critical as the Kingdom accelerates development timelines across multiple mega-projects simultaneously.
TDM: How has Vision 2030 influenced demand for charter services across the Kingdom? Which sectors are driving this growth the most?
VV: Saudi Arabia is no longer only an oil story. It’s becoming a global business, tourism, entertainment, and investment hub. And private aviation naturally follows economic transformation. The demand growth comes from several directions simultaneously: inbound investors, giga-project development teams, sports and entertainment movements, government travel, medical flights, and increasingly sophisticated local private aviation users.
Vision 2030 and the giga-projects are accelerating that shift. Business aviation is becoming a productivity tool for moving decision-makers between new economic zones. Projects like NEOM, The Red Sea Project, Diriyah Gate, and Qiddiya are creating entirely new domestic aviation corridors and new patterns of movement across the Kingdom. Saudi Arabia is probably one of the few places globally where private aviation growth still feels like the beginning rather than saturation.
TDM: Is the profile of the private aviation customer changing? Are you seeing more first-time charter clients, younger travellers, family groups or business travellers choosing charter flights?
VV: Yes, the profile is changing. The demand today is coming not only from traditional private aviation users: executives, investors, project teams, government stakeholders, international partners, entrepreneurs and increasingly sophisticated local users. Many clients are understanding that private aviation is not simply about luxury. It is about time, access, flexibility, confidentiality and operational efficiency. People often compare private jets to first class. That’s the wrong comparison. The real comparison is time, access, flexibility, and operational efficiency. For many businesses, chartering allows executives to visit multiple destinations in one day, access airports airlines don’t serve, protect confidentiality, reduce overnight stays, and maintain flexibility when plans change. In industries where decisions move fast, time literally becomes money.
TDM: Beyond ultra-high-net-worth travellers, are charter flights becoming more accessible for corporate groups, sports teams, entertainment events or incentive travel?
VV: Absolutely. Private aviation is not only about ultra-high-net-worth individuals. A huge percentage of business aviation clients are corporate executives, government officials, medical patients, engineers, sports teams, and specialists traveling to places commercial aviation simply cannot support efficiently. Saudi Arabia’s growing calendar of international events, sports competitions and entertainment festivals is creating additional demand for charter solutions.
Large movements involving sports teams, entertainment productions and VIP groups require flexibility, confidentiality and operational expertise. The ability to move people according to their own schedule, rather than adapting to commercial airline networks, is often the key advantage.
TDM: Major events such as Formula 1, international conferences and entertainment festivals require complex logistics. Without referring to confidential client cases, could you explain what goes into planning and operating a large-scale charter movement?
People think you simply “book a jet.” In reality, a last-minute international charter can involve aircraft sourcing, crew legality calculations, overflight permits, landing permits, airport slots, handling arrangements, catering, security coordination, customs planning, fuel strategy, weather assessments, parking limitations, passenger documentation, and contingency planning - often under impossible timelines. And then reality enters the room.
Maybe the preferred aircraft becomes unavailable. Maybe permits are delayed. Maybe weather closes an alternate airport. Maybe geopolitical developments suddenly affect routing. That’s where experience matters. The industry rewards calm people with good networks and operational imagination. The truly difficult operations often involve multiple countries, security sensitivities, changing schedules, media avoidance, family members, support staff, cargo, and simultaneous operational secrecy.
TDM: How important is Saudi Arabia within Chapman Freeborn's regional growth strategy, and what opportunities do you see emerging over the next three to five years?
Saudi Arabia will become one of the major global business aviation markets. I genuinely believe that. The scale of transformation happening under Vision 2030 is extraordinary. Infrastructure investment, tourism growth, giga-projects, sports, entertainment, business travel — all of these drive aviation demand naturally. The forecast is what really captures people’s attention. Saudi Arabia’s aviation authorities are targeting a dramatic expansion of the sector by 2030, including dedicated business aviation airports and terminals, with ambitions to grow annual business flight activity several times over current levels. So what we’re seeing now is still the early stage of the curve.
Saudi Arabia has the geography, capital concentration, infrastructure investment, and government support to become the dominant business aviation hub in the Middle East.
TDM: Looking ahead, what trends do you believe will shape the future of private aviation in Saudi Arabia and the wider Middle East?
The future of private aviation will be shaped by continued economic growth, technology, sustainability and changing customer expectations. Operationally, I think we will see smarter use of data, more personalization, stronger digital integration, sustainability pressure, and continued fleet modernization. Looking further ahead, I believe advanced air mobility, including eVTOL aircraft, will become part of the region’s mobility ecosystem. Saudi Arabia has the ambition, investment and willingness to adopt innovative transport solutions.
But interestingly, despite all technology evolution, private aviation will remain deeply relationship-driven. Trust will still matter more than apps.
