The emirate of Qatar occupies a small peninsula thrust out of the much larger Arabian Peninsula into the Persian Gulf a short distance north of the UAE. The captain we quoted first in the main text, flies often to Doha, capital and largest city. Here’s his report on what to expect: “We work Riyadh and Jeddah to Bahrain on the way down,” he said, describing arrival from the north. “Doha, right on the coast of the Persian Gulf, has one 15,000-ft. runway, and they are building two more the same length!”

JetEx is a six-year-old business aviation services company headquartered in Dubai with FBOs at Paris le Bourget and Kiev, Ukraine; a license to open a third at the new Al Maktoum International Airport (OMDW); and “looking at other opportunities,” such as China, where the UAE company maintains an office in Beijing.

While the rest of the world struggles amid the global financial crisis, Australia’s economy is resurgent, thanks primarily to a healthy minerals trade with China.