To say that I’ve always been more interested in looking up at the sky than at anything on the ground is something of an understatement. As a kid, a jet’s white contrails mapped routes to adventures on the other side of the world that fueled my imagination for hours on end. And if you handed me a toy airplane, a day’s worth of play was taken care of!
Looking back, perhaps it comes as no surprise that my love for aviation is built into my DNA. Hailing from a family with a rich history connected to the development of the region’s civil aviation sector, both my brother, Mohammed and I laid our aviation roots in Syria, following the lead of our father, Hisham. An old-school aviation man, my father taught us that if we wanted to reach for the stars, we needed to learn how to fly.
And that’s exactly what we did!
Turning a passion into a career
People say, “Do what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life.” As a passionate aviation enthusiast, I knew I had to do something in aviation but finding that niche specialty in an industry where the skies are monopolized by big names (and even bigger aircraft!) was not an easy task.
Inspiration struck in early 2000 when Mohammed and I partnered with two entrepreneurs to set up a small company that provided supplemental services in the aviation sector. And like any new business venture, it required a lot of blood, sweat, grit, and determination. I was studying to finish my degree while simultaneously trying to get a new business literally (and metaphorically) off the ground. Often 24 hours in the day were not enough to get everything done, and 16-hour workdays were standard operating procedure.
Ready for takeoff
I firmly believe that hard work always pays off. UAS established its first office in Dubai with only a handful of employees to serve a few clients in the Middle East. Through consistent determination, strategic management, and professionalism, the enterprise steadily grew to serve an ever-increasing number of cities, states, and countries. By the end of 2014, we had headquarters in Houston, Texas in the USA, Johannesburg in South Africa, and Hong Kong, as well as regional offices in Lagos, Nairobi, and Beijing.
Since then, there has been no looking back. Today, UAS has a global presence in 31 countries, an aviation team of experts from more than 50 nationalities who speak more than 42 languages and are available to clients 24/7/365 to deliver seamless aviation support and customizable travel solutions.
In thrust we trust
If there’s one thing Mohammed and I learned from our father, it’s that forward momentum is key in our industry. But no company can make progress without the support of its people—they are our family and share in the organization’s success in every way. That’s why we are driven to lead from the front. We aim to not only deliver an unparalleled customer experience but also lead the sector through education and awareness towards new technologies that are kinder to the environment.
With the aviation industry at the receiving end of criticism about carbon emission levels, the responsibility falls on our shoulders to pioneer a more sustainable future for the sector. Aviation sustainability is a personal passion that I am proactively working towards through awareness campaigns and something I’m proactively working toward through awareness campaigns and my continuing association with the International Business Aviation Council (IBAC).
The skies are (not) the limit
I’ve always believed that constantly readjusting goals is important for any organization if they want to prosper. You have to continue to go the extra mile if you want your vision to stand out from the rest. Of course, there will be setbacks where you stumble but you need to get up and try again until you get it right.
Persevering, trusting our intuition, and staying the course while facing headwinds has stood us in good stead, and now we really are living our dream.
Often people will say, the sky is the limit. To those who love aviation, the sky is home—it’s our natural habitat and there’s no other place to go but up!
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Mohammed Al Husary | - 12/16/2021
Mitch Launius
Instructor Pilot for 30 West IP
Mitch is the CEO of 30 West IP where he is also an instructor providing pilot training on international procedures. With an illustrious career of over 34 years in the cockpit, Mitch has acquired over 13,000 hours of flight time flying worldwide, with over 9,000 hours of this in Challenger and Gulfstream aircraft. He is an experienced safety officer and was also an IS-BAO project manager for a fortune 500 flight department. He has presented on Safety and Operations topics at the NBAA International Operators Conference and the Canadian Business Aviation Association Convention and is currently on the NBAA International Operators Committee and serves as the North Atlantic Regional Lead. Mitch is also a member of an FAA working group on General Aviation International Authorizations and Tabletop Exercises (GIATE). He was recently selected to represent IBAC as a member of the ICAO Personal Training and Licensing Panel (PTLP) and was also recently named as a 2020 recipient of the NBAA Tony Kern Professionalism in Aviation Award for his contribution to the business aviation community.
Henry ‘Duke’ LeDuc
Director Of Operations, Americas, UAS International Trip Support
Duke has been a dearly respected member of UAS Americas team and the UAS global family for more than five years. A safety-oriented, FAA-licensed aircraft dispatcher, he oversees all of the operations of the elite UAS Operations Team. With twenty-five years of experience in aviation overall with more than fifteen years of experience in international flight planning and VVIP trip coordination, he is responsible for the development of the dispatch training program and involved in the strategic development of UAS Americas. With a myriad of rich aviation experience behind him, he has extensive experience in worldwide operations with both corporate and charter environments, including seven years as Operations/Dispatch Manager in an industry-leading, Fortune 500, IS-BAO Stage III Certified corporate flight department. Duke is frequently asked shares his knowledge at major industry events and is currently serving on the NBAA’s International Operators Conference (IOC) Planning Committee.
Dudley King
President and Founder, FlightBridge
Dudley is the Founder and President of FlightBridge, which he established in 2011 and has been focused on technology solutions for the private aviation industry since 2006. Since he graduated from Dartmouth in 1988, he has worked with an array of companies listed anywhere from VentureWire to the Fortune 100. A rare blend of executive, entrepreneur, and consultant, Dudley’s executive roles have included acting CIO positions for several companies and tech advisory services to CEOs trying to rebuild their technology organizations or looking for an external, professional point of view. Highly skilled at deeply understanding his customer’s business challenges and drawing from a long and varied experience in information technology services, Dudley excels at designing technology solutions to solve their problems.
Dr. Paulo Alves
Global Medical Director, Aviation Health, Medaire
Paulo has extensive experience in medical advisory in the aviation industry. As a cardiologist, he provides technical guidance and analysis for MedAire’s MedLink medical advisory service and is MedAire’s liaison with civil aviation regulators and industry associations. Paulo worked with Varig Brazilian Airlines for 23 years, 10 of which were spent as General Medical Manager. A member of the MedAire Medical Advisory Board, Paulo is also President of the Ibero-American Aerospace Medical Association, a member of the International Academy of Aerospace Medicine, a member of the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) Safety Committee, a Fellow of the Aerospace Medical Association (AsMA), and a Fellow of the Civil Aviation Medical Association. Throughout his illustrious career, Paulo has held industry leadership roles including Chairperson of the AsMA’s Air Transport Medicine Committee, President of the Airlines Medical Directors Association, President of the Brazilian Society of Aerospace Medicine and was a member of the IATA Medical Advisory Group from 2002 to 2006.
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