A new, Bahrain-based charter airline agreed on Monday to add Beirut as a destination, expressing confidence that their target market of top-tier entrepreneurs will still travel to Lebanon even as its economy crumbles under the ongoing political instability.

Apr. 02, 2007- Rizon Jet signed a deal on Monday with Middle East Airlines Ground Services to handle its new six-seat aircraft, which will cost fliers at least $2,800 per hour to journey throughout the region, the Far East or Europe, said Assaad Abiad, Rizon Jet's marketing manager.

The company believes there will be traffic to Lebanon despite the country's seemingly endless difficulties.

"For sure there is a niche market," Abiad told The Daily Star on Monday.

The number of travelers passing through Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut has been minimal since it reopened after the summer 2006 war with Israel, and foreign businesspeople and investors have been giving the country a wide berth as its economy constricts under the weight of political squabbling.

Rizon Jet, which has a second office in Sharjah, is banking on expanding demand in the Middle East for its luxury service as Gulf investors flush with oil money attend to new business interests in surrounding countries.

"There is a shortage of these kinds of services in the market, so I think we will be able to gain market share without really affecting the competitors much," said Rizon Jet chairman and CEO Ibrahim Al Hamer, who signed the contract on Monday at Beirut's airport. "Last year, the market expanded by more than 36 percent and the year before that by 20 percent, so there is clearly mounting demand. The number of business jets now operating in the region stands at 18 percent of all operated aircraft and that is the highest in Asia."

With the industry growing, Hamer said Rizon should be able to pluck at least a 10 percent share of the market for charter flights. Hamer, a former president and chief executive of Gulf Air, also owns part of Rizon Jet, along with majority owner Ghanim bin Saad al-Saad and Sons Group of Qatar and Bahrain's AAJ Holdings.

Rizon is not the only charter service operating in Beirut, and its range of services demonstrates how the sector is taking on new roles as it expands. Aside from limousine rides to and from travelers' airports, Rizon Jet will also allow customers to rent an in-flight secretary and has plans to build a $6 million maintenance center in Bahrain to service any private jets passing through.

Rizon Jet's two initial planes cost about $52 million, and the firm announced a Sharia-compliant IPO to raise another $100 million for the purchase of more aircraft. With additional financing, Rizon should buy two larger planes next year. Rizon recently took delivery of its first plane, a six-seat Premier-1A jet from Beechcraft.