01 February 2012

THE Airport Show’s 2012 edition is promising greater participation, reflecting the important position enjoyed by the region in world aviation.

Reed Exhibitions Middle East, organiser of the event, expects an increase of 15 to 20 per cent in the number of exhibitors this year, highlighting the show’s key contribution to the growing aviation industry in the region and the world.
The Airport Show 2012, to be held at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre (DICEC) from May 22 to 24, will be held under the patronage of Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, president of the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority and chairman of Dubai Airports. More than 5,000 trade visitors from 62 countries attended the 2011 edition.

Mohamad Bader-Eddin, show director, Reed Exhibitions Middle East, said: “The Airport Show, in its 12 year running, will be a great additional value to the region’s aviation industry and will be enabling significant deals and contracts, spurred by the momentum in the industry.”

The show is devoted exclusively to airport construction, operations, technology and services and is supported by leading international industry associations and local government authorities.

The value of projects that are being executed and planned by the organisations participating at the show is in excess of $30 billion, making the event a not-to-be-missed B2B event. The Middle East region is all set to see billions of dollars in investments in airports expansion by 2020.

According to indicative figures provided by UAE aviation officials, the international airports in the UAE closed the year 2011 handling roughly about 70 million passengers, including more than 50 million in Dubai, 12 million in Abu Dhabi and seven million in Sharjah. The capacity of the UAE airports will be increased to handle 250 million passengers by 2020.
Over the next 10 years, the UAE will be investing Dh500 billion ($136.2 million) in upgrading and developing its aviation infrastructure, improving connectivity and cementing its reputation as a key growth driver in global aviation, according to Sultan Al Mansoori, the UAE’s Minister of Economy and chairman of board of directors of General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA).

Dubai Airports plans to invest Dh28 billion ($7.6 billion) towards the expansion of the Dubai and the DWC (Dubai World Central) airports by 2020. Abu Dhabi is expected to start work on the 700,000-sq-m Midfield Terminal Building as part of the Dh25 billion ($6.8 billion) expansion plans for the airport which will open in 2017.

The other major expansions are in Qatar ($11 billion), Jeddah, Saudi Arabia ($11.5 billion), Muscat, Oman ($1.2 billion) and approximately $2.1 billion and $335 million in Kuwait and Bahrain, respectively.

The International Air Transport Association (Iata) projections rated the UAE as the seventh of the top 10 markets in 2014 for international passengers, with 82.3 million passengers projected to use the airports in the second biggest Arab economy. IATA also indicated that by 2014 there will be 3.3 billion air travellers.

The Middle East is expected to have the fastest growth rate at 9.4 per cent until 2014. The UAE, Kuwait and Jordan will be among the top 10 fastest growing countries.

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