Dubai to host Airport Show in May 2022

Dubai: Dubai will host Airport Show 2022 from May 17 to 19 to bring together key industry stakeholders and discuss the future of the airports sector.

The exhibition, which will be held at the Dubai World Trade Centre, is supported by the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority, Dubai Aviation Engineering Projects (DAEP), Dubai Airports and dnata. The co-located events will be ATC Forum, Airport Security Middle East, Global Airport Leaders Forum (GALF) and Women in Aviation (WIA) Forum, Airport Passengers Experience Conference and the Future GSE Summit.

At the Airport Show, the visitors will be able to see the latest in contactless technologies, artificial intelligence, biometrics, and clean mobility solutions to ensure the hygiene and safety of passengers.

“The Airport Show and the co-located events and conferences are to provide an impetus for the aviation industry to appear stronger and better in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and to learn about the latest smart solutions and innovations that will reshape the future of the industry,” said Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority, Chairman of Dubai Airports, Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates Airline and Group.

“Airports and airlines have a technology-based approach to achieve sustainable levels of safety, health, security and efficiency,” said Sheikh Ahmed. “During the period spent by the international airports on innovation and adopting technology, Dubai has remained at the forefront of developing initiatives that enabled the aviation to recover rapidly”

Record turnout

Reed Exhibitions Middle East, the organizer of the world’s top global B2B event for the global airport industry, expects the exhibition in this session to post record growth in the number of exhibitors as airport officials scramble to meet with ‘smart’ technology manufacturers to ink deals and learn about best industry practices.

According to the forecasts by the Airports Council International (ACI) whose members operate 1,933 airports in 183 countries, the volume of investments that airports around the world will spend will reach $2.4 trillion until the year 2040 to maintain, upgrade, expand and modernize airport infrastructure.

The report stated that countries in the Middle East alone need to spend about $151 billion to complete the expansion and modernization for their airports that were slowed down due to the pandemic.

“We saw the need for decision-makers, airport leaders and manufacturers of airport technology, to meet under one roof to discuss the future of the industry and learn about the best experiences and ways to overcome the effects of the pandemic and prepare for the boom period in the near future,” said Firas Abu Ltaif, Exhibition Manager at Reeds Exhibitions Middle East, the event’s organizers.

During 2020’s Airport show, more than 100 companies from different countries participated in the exhibition, in addition to the participation of 3,441 specialists and experts from 48 countries, in the hybrid conferences that were held on the sidelines.

Airshow success

Dubai hosted the Airshow last month, marking the first major in-person aerospace event to be held since the pandemic. The event, which pulled in close to 85,000 visitors, saw plane-makers Boeing and Airbus bag billion-dollar aircraft orders from airlines, who are betting big on the aviation sector’s long-term recovery.

Airlines across the world, as per IATA (International Air Transport Association), are now on their way to recovery and are expected to return to profitability in 2023. After a decade of consistent growth in global passenger traffic, the pandemic halted the surge in airports around the world in the second quarter of 2020, causing total passenger numbers for that year to drop sharply to a level not seen in the world’s airports since 1997.