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As the biggest aerospace event on the UAE’s calendar opens today, with the Dubai Airshow bringing together local, regional, and international players in the industry, all eyes will be on Gulf carriers, including Emirates, flydubai and Riyadh Air to make major announcements.
The five-day event, which is being held at the Dubai World Central under the patronage of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, is bringing together more than 1,400 exhibitors, across 148 countries to the emirate to at the 18th edition of the event.
Ahead of the opening, Sheikh Mohammed, who has been credited for launching the concept decades ago, took to social media with the promise of “greater growth” at this year’s edition, following the $74 billion in deals that the previous event brought.
Aircraft deals
All eyes will be on Emirates and flydubai, which are expected to make announcements that could include a new order for several dozen Boeing 777X jets, according to Reuters.
Emirates has an outstanding order book that includes 200 widebodies, which was announced earlier this year, spread across 120 777-9s, 30 787s and 50 A350-900s.
An announcement would come days after the Emirates Group announced a record profit of 10.1 billion UAE dirhams ($2.7 billion) in the first half of its 2023/2024 financial year, more than double last year’s AED 4.2 billion, buoyed by strong post pandemic demand for international travel across regions. The growth was largely attributed to the performance of Emirates airline, which reported a H1 profit of AED 9.4 billion versus AED 4 billion in the year-ago period.
The newly launched Riyadh Air, which will take to the skies in 2025, is also expected to make announcements at the Dubai Airshow, which could include an order of Boeing 737 MAXs, to expand its narrow body fleet.
According to Bloomberg, the Saudi-based Riyadh Air is nearing an order for up to 100 Boeing 737 MAXs, with a final agreement possibly being announced at the Dubai Airshow. The report adds there is expectation is that the airline will place a firm order for 50 737 MAXs, with options for an additional 50 jets.
The news comes a week after Riyadh Air’s CEO Tony Douglas was quoted by the Saudi-based Arab News as saying it will place a second major aircraft order “in weeks.” The airline has already provisionally ordered 72 Boeing 787 widebody jets.
Aviation growth
Despite the current geopolitical situation in the region, stemming from the Israel-Gaza conflict, the aviation sector in the Middle East has been witnessing “robust” growth, according to the latest data by the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
Middle Eastern airlines saw a 26.6% increase in September traffic compared to a year ago. Capacity rose 23.7% and load factor climbed 1.9 percentage points to 81.8%.
Dubai Airports also announced that it served 41.6 million guests in the first half of 2023, a 49% increase against the same period in 2022, fuelled by a 43% surge in second-quarter passenger traffic.
The ‘Global Travel Report by World Travel Market’, which came out last week, also indicated the Middle East’s travel sector has made a full recovery since the global pandemic slump, with 33 million leisure visitors expected to travel to the region in 2023, a 13.8% increase from the 29 million recorded in 2019. The report added that the recovery has been led by a strong performance by the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
Public viewing
As with every edition, Dubai Airshow’s Skyview grandstand arena is expected to return which will give the public a front-row seat to witness the daily flying display at DWC. Some of the flying teams to display their talent will include the Frecce Tricolori, the Italian Air Force’s aerobatic demonstration team; Fursan Al Emarat, the UAE Air Force aerobatic display team; Sarang, the helicopter air display team of the Indian Air Force; and August 1st, the aerobatic demonstration team of the People's Liberation Army Air Force (Chinese Air Force).
(Writing by Bindu Rai, editing by Seban Scaria)
