According to Mr Marshall, corporate jet services appeal to 'time sensitive' people with 'sufficient resources'.

'Macau is a very good base as many high-rollers come to the gaming facilities here,' he said. 'It is very common for celebrities to want to use charter operations and people who own aircraft; they are very important to us. A lot of them are from Macau and the mainland, and there are many companies that need corporate jets. This is just developing at the moment. They not only need to travel to Macau but in the region.'

The region's rapid economic growth, lack of transport services and changes to restrictions on the use of corporate jets on the mainland are the foundations for the company's establishment. Mr Marshall said there was no doubt Macau was a place with immense potential and capacity for growth. He pointed to Las Vegas as an example of what could be expected in the coming years.

'If you look at Las Vegas there are 200 corporate jet flights per day,' he said. 'Last year in Macau there were 700 in total. With Macau being equal to and exceeding Las Vegas, it gives you an idea of how vibrant the opportunity is here.'

Macau Jet employs 25 full-time staff with that number expected to double in the coming two years. Once fully operational the company will offer private jet charters, aircraft management and aircraft advisory and maintenance services.

'We believe we will have five aircraft, managing and flying, next year and 10 a year later,' Mr Marshall said. 'When you get to 10 or 15 aircraft the number of staff we need would be double where we are at now.'

He said the company was going through the process of pursuing an aircraft operator's certificate, which was expected to be completed soon.

By next month Macau Jet expects to be able to charter flights to anyone who requires the service and fly anywhere in the world with a maximum of one stop.

'It is really challenging as it has the same requirements of an airline,' he said.

'We do have some airplanes we are flying as private jets at the moment, but we have not fully finished the certification process needed for charters.'

The company offers management services to people who own aircraft. This involves Macau Jet providing pilots, engineers, maintenance staff and flight planning to private aircraft owners.

In such a specialised industry, recruiting all the necessary staff from Macau has been impossible. Mr Marshall said there was no choice but to search internationally for pilots, flight dispatchers and engineering and maintenance staff. He said many of the administration staff and less-skilled positions had been filled by people from Macau. 'Aviation requires certain skills and people with certain levels of experience.

'A small location such as Macau does not have all of these people available,' he said. 'We have hired as many local people as we can, but in the expert and technical positions we have had to look outside Macau.'

Mr Marshall said language skills gave job applicants from Hong Kong an advantage. 'We are hoping to have more people from Hong Kong, but it depends on the applicants,' he said. 'We do believe Hong Kong has great talent, particularly in business development.'

Each year aircraft staff are required by regulators to undergo training to update and refresh their skills.

Some training will be carried out in-house by senior staff of Macau Jet and other training will be conducted externally. 'We can safely say we have exceptional in-house training capabilities as the first pilots we hired are fully qualified ground instructors,' Mr Marshall said. 'We also use facilities for training flight crew in the United States.'

Mr Marshall said he was confident the recent Macau government decision to freeze gaming licences would not affect demand for corporate jet services. 'There is so much demand locally and in China, I do not think it will have any impact,' he said. 'There is a lot of pent-up demand already.'

In a world where recruiting pilots was highly competitive, Mr Marshall said there had been little difficulty enticing people to relocate to Macau as the majority saw the 'booming potential' in the city.

He said for human resources it was impossible for small operators to compete solely based on salary. 'It has to do with the business model, people like to work for a company that has the right business model,' he said. 'As the company grows they get to share in the benefits.'

Flight path

Macau Jet International to offer private jet flights to any destination in the world

Expansion plan will see staff numbers double to 50 within two years and there will be an international search for pilots, flight dispatchers, and engineering and maintenance staff

Training will be carried out in-house by company's senior staff