VIP terminals of Asia: Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo and beyond

The catalogue holds 34 objects in the region: business aviation terminals, FBOs and VIP lounges in 29 cities. Below are the ones that set the level of service in the region, and a short map of the rest.

MJets Private Jet Terminal (FBO MJets)

Bangkok, Thailand · Don Mueang International Airport (DMK) · standalone complex

Photo: Setawut, CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

Thailand's first and only private business aviation terminal: MJets has worked at Don Mueang since 2010 and opened its own complex, costing 8.6 million dollars, in 2016. Inside is an executive lounge of 3 400 sq ft for 70 guests, four meeting rooms and crew rest rooms with showers; customs, immigration and security work on site. Two hangars of about 52 000 sq ft in total adjoin the terminal. The complex is accredited to IS-BAO and IS-BAH Stage 3 and to ISO 9001:2015; AIN has listed it among Asia's best FBOs every year since 2016.

Hong Kong Business Aviation Centre (HKBAC)

Hong Kong, China (Hong Kong SAR) · Hong Kong International Airport, Chek Lap Kok (HKG) · standalone complex

Photo: Tksteven, CC BY 2.5, Wikimedia Commons

In operation since 1998 and regarded as one of Asia's benchmark FBOs: Professional Pilot magazine named it the region's best for 18 years running. The campus on the airport site includes a passenger terminal, hangars and its own apron; after the 2025 rebuild the site grew from 16 000 to 24 500 m² and the terminal to 4 800 m². Inside are waiting lounges, VVIP suites, meeting rooms, a children's area and a halal lounge with prayer rooms; customs, immigration and quarantine control take place on site. A covered walkway 26 metres long leads from the terminal to the apron — the first of its kind in Asia.

SkyPark FBO Malaysia (SkyPark Regional Aviation Centre)

Kuala Lumpur (Subang), Malaysia · Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport (Subang) (SZB) · standalone complex

Photo: Cmglee, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

The FBO works within the SkyPark Regional Aviation Centre, a business aviation complex with its own terminal and hangars at Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah airport, Kuala Lumpur's principal business aviation site. The company was created in 2008 as a joint venture with VistaJet and offers full handling, VIP lounges (including the well-known Songket Room) and fuelling. Subang handles some thirty business jet movements a day; the Selangor Aviation Show takes place at the RAC. The large ExecuJet MRO Services business jet maintenance centre operates alongside.

ExecuJet Kuala Lumpur FBO

Kuala Lumpur (Subang), Malaysia · Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport (Subang) (SZB) · standalone complex

Photo: Cmglee, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

The FBO works at Subang — Kuala Lumpur's business gateway — next to the SkyPark complex, and grew out of the Asian network of ExecuJet Aviation Group (the Luxaviation group); following the transfer of ExecuJet's MRO business to Dassault Aviation the site is managed by ExecuJet MRO Services Malaysia. A purpose-built complex opened in April 2024, Malaysia's largest business aviation base: a hangar of 9 725 m² holding up to 15 midsize and heavy business jets, with a further 4 162 m² of workshops, stores and offices. Passengers and crews are received in VIP lounges with meeting rooms; ExecuJet Handling Services arranges customs and immigration formalities, apron and hangar parking, fuelling and transfers. The complex is certified by the Malaysian authorities, EASA and the FAA, supports Dassault (including the Falcon 6X and 10X), Bombardier and Gulfstream aircraft, and remains South-East Asia's regional business aviation hub.

Seoul Gimpo Business Aviation Center (SGBAC)

Seoul, South Korea · Gimpo International Airport (GMP) · standalone complex

Photo: gary4now, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

South Korea's first purpose-built business aviation complex, opened in June 2016 beside the Gimpo international terminal. It consists of a passenger terminal and a hangar of 12 490 m² holding up to eight Gulfstream G550 or Global 6000 class aircraft at once. It is the country's only facility with fully self-contained border and customs control separated from the common terminal: the formalities take about five minutes. There are VIP lounges and crew rest rooms; the Yeouido business district is about 15 minutes away by car. K-pop artists' charters depart regularly through SGBAC, which has made the centre widely recognised.

Incheon Business Aviation Center

Seoul (Incheon), South Korea · Incheon International Airport (ICN) · standalone complex

Photo: 서울특별시 소방재난본부(Seoul Metropolitan Fire & Disaster Headquarters), CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

The business aviation centre of Korea's principal international hub has, according to the airport corporation, a dedicated terminal, apron and hangars. Inside are waiting lounges, meeting rooms, showers and its own customs and border control desks; the centre works round the clock. Incheon takes long-haul business flights and complements the FBO at the city airport of Gimpo, from which Seoul's short-haul and regional business aviation operates.

Jet Aviation Singapore FBO

Singapore, Singapore · Seletar Airport (XSP) · standalone complex

Jet Aviation's FBO at Seletar airport works from its own site on West Camp Road: a VIP lounge, meeting rooms and direct access to the apron sit alongside the company's large maintenance centre. The operator belongs to the General Dynamics group and holds in Singapore one of the key bases of its Asian network. Seletar is Singapore's dedicated business aviation airport, with its own passenger terminal and the Seletar Aerospace Park industrial estate.

Jetex Seletar FBO

Singapore, Singapore · Seletar Airport (XSP) · standalone complex

The FBO of the Dubai network Jetex was formally opened on 30 June 2022 on the campus of the Bombardier service centre in Seletar Aerospace Park. Passengers have an executive lounge, crew lounges with showers, and aircraft parking and hangar storage; customs and border formalities are arranged both at the airport and through the FBO. The partnership with Bombardier allows flight handling and business jet maintenance to be combined on one site — the partners call the complex the largest FBO in the Asia-Pacific region.

Other objects in the region

The whole series

Asia's 34 objects are part of a worldwide catalogue that holds 308 business aviation terminals. How densely the region is covered next to its neighbours, how the formats of accommodation are distributed and which operator networks work across several parts of the world at once are set out in the summary article VIP terminals of business aviation worldwide.

How to use this

The format of the site at the destination is settled before the flight is booked, together with the route. The catalogue shows where there is a choice: Singapore has four entries open to private flights, Seoul splits business aviation between Gimpo and Incheon, and Kuala Lumpur has two FBOs side by side at Subang. In Jakarta, Osaka and Bangalore guests are received in a lounge inside the common terminal, and the way to the aircraft is the shared one. Where there is no dedicated site at all, the aircraft is met in the common flow, and the time a private flight is taken for goes on waiting.

Malé from the table above sits in my working geography: aircraft on the Russian register fly within Russia and to friendly countries, and the Maldives are on that list. Sanya I know from the other side: I flew there from the mainland on an ordinary domestic flight, on a family trip. At the time of that trip, visa-free transit through China for Russians ran to three or four days and only through certain cities, with a stopover from 24 hours. The difference between the two ways of reaching the same city is measured in time on the ground.

Alexander Filimonov — business aviation: sourcing, acquisition and entry into service of aircraft.