Contributor - Middle East

Peter Shaw-Smith

The seventh Middle East Business Aviation Association Show (T33) takes place in Dubai December 10 at Al Maktoum International Airport's (DWC) Exhibition Hall, the final such show before the World Expo 2020, an event long seen as a bellwether for the emirate's economic fortunes, and likely to boost bizav in the emirate with 25 million additional visitors set to attend.

 


MEBAA chairman Ali Alnaqbi told AIN in April he expected the show to continue its run as the third most important bizav show in the world after EBACE and NBAA, with 10,000 visitors, more than 50 aircraft on static display, and over 500 exhibitors likely to attend.

 


Dubai-based ExecuJet said it is critical for its new facility to be ready in time for Expo 2020. “It’s a massive facility. Total plot size will be more than 22,000 square meters [5.4 acres]. Two plots will be for FBO and MRO, and one plot for parking,” Mike Berry, president, aviation services, and vice president, Middle East, told AIN. “We will be ready by the end of 2019.”

 


Chief among the issues facing the regional industry is the fine-tuning of the competitive backdrop enjoyed by the five FBOs present at DWC, to maximize their potential in a flat market, the need to boost MRO services for business aviation at DWC to compete with services at Abu Dhabi airports, along with the emergence of Saudi Arabia as a bizav hub, given the new dispensation under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

 


With the exception of cargo traffic, for which DWC now claims to be among the world’s top 20 airports by throughput, business aviation has been the main draw at the airport, with approximately 60 percent of total Dubai bizav movements now understood to take place at DWC. Emirates has delayed&nbsp;a decision to move scheduled services to the site until around 2025, and attractive synergies are now developing at Dubai International with low-cost airline Flydubai.

 


Leading players in the Dubai bizav market recognize that today, the MEBAA fair is as important as the Dubai Airshow, events that alternate in the emirate&nbsp;in the fourth quarter of each year.

 


“Either show, Dubai Airshow, as well as the MEBAA event, [gives us] an annual opportunity to present ourselves. I don’t see a great deal of difference from a regional perspective. Regional players will take part in both,” Holger Ostheimer, managing director, DC Aviation Al-Futtaim, owner of the first FBO to open as a standalone player at DWC in 2013, told AIN.

MEBAA Show Eyes Expo 2020 Volumes

Business aviation in the region is facing challenges and opportunities, both of which will be discussed at the upcoming show.

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