01
Safety is boring on purpose.
Our briefings have not changed in seven years, and that is the point. Two pre-flight checks, one airborne, one post-flight. Same checklist, same order, every time.
Family-Run - GCAA-Licensed Since 2014
A family of pilots,
A family of pilots,
at the edge of the desert.
Twelve years of balloon weather in Cappadocia. Eleven years flying Dubai sunrises. One family, 48 crew, 28,000+ guests lifted into the quiet above the Conservation Reserve - every one of them back on the ground for breakfast.
Season Open
Flying daily - Oct 1 to May 31
- 4.9 stars - 1,200+ reviews
28,402
Guests flown
Since November 2014
4,186
Sunrise flights
Zero-incident record
9,200+
Chief pilot hours
Capt. Yusuf Demir
12
Languages on roster
Pilots and ground crew
Our Story
We started this
We started this
because of a sunrise.
Capt. Yusuf Demir
Founder - Chief Pilot
In 2003, Yusuf Demir lit his first burner over Goreme at 4:47 a.m. He was twenty-two, terrified, and already in love with the thing most people never wake up for - the fifteen minutes when the sky turns from indigo to apricot and the land below holds its breath.
Twelve years later, he was flying the same sunrise over Dubai's Conservation Reserve, convinced the dunes here had a light Cappadocia did not. He brought his ground crew, his safety manuals, and his oldest balloon - a 120,000-cubic-foot envelope stitched in Kayseri - and in November 2014, Cappadocia Hot Air Balloon Dubai flew its first commercial guests.
We are still family-run. Yusuf flies most mornings. His daughter Elif Demir runs ground operations from a caravan at the launch site, answers the WhatsApp, and has personally met almost every guest who has ever taken a basket into the sky with us.
We do not operate a fleet of anonymous baskets. We operate eleven balloons we know by name, flown by twelve pilots we trust with our own families, over a reserve we have mapped turn-by-turn for a decade. That is the whole company. That is the whole promise.
"A sunrise is just a sunrise. The work is making sure the hour before, and the hour after, are gentle too."
What we believe
Four quiet rules
Four quiet rules
that decide every flight.
These are not marketing. They are the tie-breakers we use at 3:40 a.m. when the wind station reads 14 knots and forty guests are already in the vans.
02
Small groups. Always.
Our Classic basket takes 8. Our VIP basket takes 4. Our Private basket takes 2. We turn away group tours. You are flying with your people, not sixteen strangers.
03
We fly one desert, well.
We only fly over the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve. Ten years of mapping every ridge, every thermal, every Arabian oryx corridor. We do not scale. We deepen.
04
Weather wins. Every time.
We cancel roughly one morning in fifteen. Every cancellation is a full refund or free reschedule. No pressure, no surcharge, no argument at 3 a.m.
The pilots
Twelve hands
Twelve hands
on twelve burners.
Every pilot on this roster holds a GCAA Commercial Balloon Pilot License, a minimum of 500 command hours, and a First-Aid Level 3 cert. They are the only people who fly our baskets.
All GCAA licensed
Avg 3,400 command hours
12 languages combined
Chief Pilot
Capt. Yusuf Demir
Founder - 9,200 hrs
22 years flying. Speaks Turkish, English, Arabic. Flies the private charters personally.
GCAA CBPL
FAA CPL-LTA
Senior Pilot
Capt. Amira Al-Nasser
Senior Pilot - 4,100 hrs
First Emirati female balloon captain. Arabic, English, French. Loves a calm wind day.
GCAA CBPL
EASA BPL
Pilot
Capt. Pieter van Rooy
Pilot - 2,800 hrs
Flew safari balloons in South Africa for a decade. Afrikaans, English. Our weather nerd.
GCAA CBPL
SACAA CPL
Pilot
Capt. Rohan Mehta
Pilot - 1,950 hrs
Trained in Jaipur, flies Dubai sunrises. Hindi, Urdu, English. Our celebration specialist.
GCAA CBPL
DGCA CPL
Meet the full roster
+ 8 senior pilots, 4 ground captains, 22 crew
Safety Standards
The reason 28,000
The reason 28,000
people came home
for breakfast.
Seven layers of check, three layers of authority, one rule: if any of us wants to cancel, the flight does not go.
0
Incidents in 11 seasons
48 hr
Pre-flight weather window
-
1
GCAA-licensed aircraft, every envelope.
Every basket and envelope on our roster is registered with the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority and re-certified annually. License numbers and annual worthiness certificates are available on request - ask the desk.
-
2
Twin weather reads, two independent sources.
At 03:30 we pull wind and visibility from the Dubai NCM tower and our own launch-site anemometer. Disagreement by more than 2 knots automatically triggers a hold until 04:15.
-
3
Three-person cancel authority.
Chief pilot, flight pilot, ground captain. Any of the three can ground a flight with no override. Cancellations are 100% refunded or rescheduled at no cost.
-
4
First-aid, chase vehicle, tracked basket.
Every flight is tracked live by a 4x4 chase team with satellite comms and a Level-3 first-aid responder. Landing coordinates are shared with ground ops the moment the basket touches down.
Milestones
Eleven seasons,
Eleven seasons,
one slow lift.
-
2003
Origin
First flight, Cappadocia.
Yusuf Demir, 22, lights his first burner over Goreme. He does not stop for twelve years.
-
The move to Dubai.
GCAA paperwork approved after 18 months of briefings. The first envelope ships from Kayseri in a 40-foot container.
2014
Founded
-
2017
5,000th guest
Fifth balloon, fourth pilot.
Private Charter basket introduced. Elif Demir joins full-time to run ground operations.
-
Capt. Amira joins the roster.
First Emirati female balloon captain in the UAE. The roster now flies in eight languages.
2019
First Emirati captain
-
2021
Portfolio expands
Ground adventures open.
Dune buggies, quads, safari and combos launched to catch morning arrivals staying for the full day.
-
Zero-incident milestone.
28,000+ guests flown. 4.9 stars from 1,200+ reviews across TripAdvisor, Google and GetYourGuide.
Today
11 seasons in
Recognised by
Quiet awards.
Quiet awards.
Loud reviews.
★★★★★ 4.9 - TripAdvisor
★★★★★ 4.9 - Google
★★★★★ 4.9 - GetYourGuide
GCAA
Licensed Operator
#AE-BAL-0214
DTCM
Dubai Tourism
Approved 2015
DDCR
Conservation Reserve
Approved operator
BBAC
British Balloon & Airship Club
Member
Who owns the company?
Family-run. Founded by Capt. Yusuf Demir in 2014 after 12 years flying in Cappadocia, Turkiye. His daughter Elif Demir runs ground operations. The pilot roster is a mix of Emirati, Turkish, South African and Indian aviation professionals.
How long have you been flying Dubai?
Since November 2014. Eleven full seasons, 4,186 commercial flights, 28,402 guests - every one of them back on the ground for breakfast. Zero-incident record since day one.
Are your pilots really GCAA licensed?
Every pilot holds a GCAA Commercial Balloon Pilot License with a minimum of 500 command hours and a First-Aid Level 3 certification. Our chief pilot has 9,200+ hours across Turkiye and the UAE. We share license numbers on request.
Why do you only fly one desert?
Because depth beats scale. The Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve is 225 square kilometers of protected dune, and we have mapped every thermal and Arabian-oryx corridor for a decade. A new pilot trains here for a full season before they take a commercial basket up alone.
Can I meet the pilot before flying?
Yes. Every pre-flight briefing is led by your flight pilot, in person, at the launch site. Private charters can request a specific pilot at booking - just WhatsApp us.
Do you operate in summer?
No. We pause June 1 to August 31 for heat safety - envelope integrity and crew welfare both suffer above 42C. We use those 13 weeks for annual aircraft recertification, pilot continuation training, and family holidays.