Getty What is Hamish Harding's net worth?
Hamish Harding is one of the five people who embarked on the missing “Titan” submersible that was supposed to explore the wreck of the Titanic.
“A debris field was discovered within the search area by an ROV near the Titanic. Experts within the unified command are evaluating the information,” the U.S. Coast Guard tweeted on June 22, 2023. BBC reported, according to a friend of passengers, that it was a landing frame and rear cover of the Titan submersible.
The Coast Guard and OceanGate say the five men died when the submersible faced catastrophic failure. “We now believe that our CEO Stockton Rush, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood, Hamish Harding, and Paul-Henri Nargeolet, have sadly been lost,” the company said in a statement to CNN.
Rear Admiral John Mauger said in a news conference on June 22, 2023, that a remote-operated vehicle discovered the tail cone of the Titan lying 1,600 feet from the bow of the Titanic on the sea floor. “The degree is consistent with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber,” Mauger said.
What is known about Hamish Harding’s net worth? According to Fortune, Harding is a billionaire. The claim that Harding is a billionaire has also been reported by British publications, such as Daily Mail and Sky News.
However, Forbes Magazine reports that Harding does not appear on its list of billionaires. Fox Business described Harding as a “British millionaire.”
He is clearly very wealthy, however, as the trip on the submersible cost $250,000, according to BBC.
He has previously flown with Blue Origin, which charges about $200,000 for a seat, according to TS2.
According to One More Orbit, Harding made his fortune as chairman of the company Action Aviation. Harding and his family live in the United Arab Emirates, the site reported. Daily Mail reported that Harding’s company is based in Dubai, although he was born in London, England, and attended Cambridge University. His company sold “30 new and preowned business aircraft” in 2021, according to Ain Online.
“Action Aviation currently owns four jets: a Boeing BBJ, Bombardier Global XRS, Dassault Falcon 900EX EASy, and Embraer Legacy 600, which it manages itself, along with some other customer aircraft,” the site reports.
The submersible stopped communicating one hour and 45 minutes into its Titanic dive, according to the U.S. Coast Guard, which said on June 20, 2023, that the vessel had only about 40 hours of oxygen left.
“Canadian P-3 aircraft detected underwater noises in the search area. As a result, ROV operations were relocated in an attempt to explore the origin of the noises. Those ROV searches have yielded negative results but continue,” the Coast Guard tweeted on June 20. “Additionally, the data from the P-3 aircraft has been shared with our U.S. Navy experts for further analysis which will be considered in future search plans.”
Here’s what you need to know:
Hamish Harding’s Wealth Has Funded Adventures to the South Pole & Challenger Deep
According to One More Orbit, Harding “is an experienced jet pilot and aircraft broker,.” He set aviation speed records and runs a “global aircraft business,” the site reported.
Action Aviation lists planes for sale, although prospective buyers are told to call for the price.
According to Action Aviation’s website, “Action Aviation was involved in a couple of preowned Global 7500 transactions recently, each valued at more than $70 million.”
Harding told Ain Online: “There are a lot of high-net-worth visitors who come into Dubai long term who aren’t long-term Emiratis but are living here and buying aircraft in Dubai,” he said. “We’re a worldwide business, so preowned aircraft sales are a worldwide phenomenon. It doesn’t make a lot of difference whether you sell the aircraft into a local market you happen to live in or into Columbia.”
Harding is wealthy enough to fund adventures most people never dream of doing. For example, according to One More Orbit, he journeyed twice to the South Pole, once with his teenage son Giles and once with former astronaut Buzz Aldrin.
“He has a seat reserved with Virgin Galactic for a sub-orbital space flight, and also a dive with Eyos Expeditions to the Challenger Deep, the deepest place on Earth at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean,” One More Orbit reported, calling him “Capt. Hamish Harding.”
Action Aviation’s website describes the company as holding “World Class Expertise in Aircraft Sales & Acquisitions.”
The company’s website explains:
Action Aviation, established in 2004, is a global sales company in business aviation. Action Aviation offers a wide range of services including aircraft brokerage, aircraft management and aircraft financing.
We manage various business jets out of Dubai including our own Boeing Business Jet.
Action Aviation specialises in finding aircraft around the world that are hard to source, with the capability to do inventory purchasing, as well as providing asset-based financing to some clients.
We provide our extensive aircraft knowledge to assist business jet buyers to find the right aircraft for their needs and budget.
The company wrote that it is “the professional representative of choice among Fortune 100 companies, international corporations, heads of state, families and VIPs from the sports, entertainment industries, etc.”
Hamish Harding Bought His First Jet in the Early 2000s
Harding told Business Aviation Magazine that he bought his first jet in the early 2000s. In the 1990s, he explained in that interview, he did “well in banking software.”
At the time of that interview, he said the company had 20 staff members worldwide. He discussed how he and his teenage son each invited 10 people to go to Oman for his birthday.
Action Aviation confirmed in a June 20, 2023, press release that its chairman “is currently on board the Titan Submersible at the Titanic site.”
Hardin’s family and team were grateful for messages of concern and rescue efforts, the company’s release wrote.
The release called Harding a “licensed Air Transport Pilot, a Living Legend of Aviation,” who holds three Guinness World Records.
He was described as “an explorer and an entrepreneur,” who went to space with Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket and helped reintroduce Cheetahs from Namibia to India.
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