Business | Aviation
Jetsetters coming to Dubai event
The Middle East business jet market is expected to hit Dh3.67 billion by 2012, according to industry officials, and the global aviation market is predicted to expand to 39,000 aircraft over the next 20 years.
- By Nadia Saleem, Staff Reporter
- Published: 23:42 November 12, 2008
Dubai: The Middle East business jet market is expected to hit Dh3.67 billion by 2012, according to industry officials, and the global aviation market is predicted to expand to 39,000 aircraft over the next 20 years.
Ali Al Naqbi, founding chairman of the Middle East Business Aviation Association (MEBAA), the industry body behind MEBA, the industry business-to-business exhibition, told Gulf News that the current market for business jets in the Middle East offers 500 aircraft, representing 1.3 to 2 per cent of the global market of 27,000 corporate jets. The Gulf is experiencing annual growth of about 15 per cent, Al Naqbi said.
Alison Weller, director of Fairs and Exhibitions Aerospace, organisers of the event, said that Saudi Arabia has the largest fleet of business jets in the market, at 114, and the UAE comes second with 78 aircraft.
With 22 companies officially operating commercial chartered aircraft in the region, Al Naqbi said almost 75 companies have submitted their applications for Air Operator's Certificates (AOC).
Twenty applications were from the UAE and 30 from Saudi Arabia, he said.
Additionally, as the international business aviation industry suffers due to the financial crisis, European business jets are also entering the Middle East, boosting numbers throughout the regional industry.
A new home
"We haven't seen an impact by the economic crisis yet. But having said that, we are seeing a lot of companies coming to our region to find a new home," Al Naqbi said.
"Many business aircraft have been grounded in Europe and they are contacting us for a new home here," he added.
Although the region has not experienced a direct impact of the crisis, Ammar Balkar, president and chief executive of MEBA, said that there have been cancellations of aircraft orders placed with manufacturers but utilisation has not been affected.
Looking ahead, Balkar said that the crisis will "definitely hit us," but will be much less than the impact it has had on North America.
Flowing with the winds of the current growth of regional business aviation, MEBA will showcase 71 corporate jets from 29 countries in the static park at Dubai Airport Expo next week.
In 2007, $907 million (Dh3.3 billion) in deals took place at the aviation show, which the organisers are looking to top this year.
Al Naqi said that attendance at international shows is down because now there is a business aviation show in the Middle East.
"Companies will not go all the way to the United States, where they used to go before.
"So their numbers have reduced and we are increasing."
The show will have 250 exhibitors from Europe, the US, Asia and the Middle East, tripling in size since the first edition of the show in 2007. Organisers are expecting 5,000 trade visitors at the event this year. A wide range of models from international manufacturers will be exhibited, from companies such as Dassault, Gulfstream, Embraer, Boeing, Cessna, Bombardier, Hawker Beechcraft and Airbus.
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