The Dubai-based aircraft sales and acquisitions company founded by Captain Hamish Harding, who died last summer, will remain dedicated to his vision, goals and aspirations under the leadership of new CEO, Mark Butler and Managing Director, Frederic Dubant. Butler worked alongside Harding for 16 years helping to take Action Aviation from entrepreneurial start-up to globally recognized and respected aircraft dealership. Dubant has worked in aviation for more than two decades for Labinal, Airbus and Comlux where he was EVP of Commercial, Business Jets before joining Action Aviation in 2021.
In addition to founding Action Aviation, Harding had a huge appetite for exploration, scientific discovery and conservation. His accomplishments include holding the record for the fastest flight in a light jet SJ30 from the US to Dubai, setting up two air ambulance operations in the Middle East, introducing the first regular business jet services to the Antarctic and accompanying astronaut Buzz Aldrin to the South Pole.
In July 2019, Harding broke the round-the-world record for any aircraft flying over the North and South poles in a Qatar Executive Gulfstream G650ER ultra long-range business jet.
Harding became Chair for the Middle East Chapter of the Explorer’s Club and continued with his explorations, traversing the deepest depths of the ocean with Victor Vescovo at the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench breaking two more world records; flying to space as part of the suborbital Blue Origin NS-21 mission and supplying a customised Boeing 747-400 aircraft to transport eight wild cheetahs from Namibia to India to reintroduce the cheetah into India.
