His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority, Chairman of Dubai Airports, Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates Airline and Group and Patron of Airport Show, opened the Airport Show in Dubai on Monday.
The 18th edition of Airport Show is held from 07 to 09 May 2018 and features two new co-located events, Air Traffic Control (ATC) Forum, Airport Security Middle East, in addition to CAPA-Centre of Aviation Global Airport Leaders Forum (GALF) and Women in Aviation.
Sheikh Ahmed said contribution of the aviation sector to Dubai’s GDP has been growing steadily and is expected to reach 38%, thus creating more jobs and aiding overall growth.
Earlier, Sheikh Ahmed inaugurated this year’s Global Airport Leaders’ Forum (GALF) running parallel to the Show.
On the new initiatives of the Dubai government to increase investments and instill confidence in the private sector, he said: “The government wants to push everybody to bring in more traffic and business to Dubai and wants to hear from all our business people because we need the private sector, the local government and the federal government to support the new initiatives.”
In his keynote address, Dubai Civil Aviation Authority Director General HE Mohammed Abdullah Ahli said: “Our participation in the Show is in line with our objectives of benefiting from the latest knowledge and expertise along with the best practices in managing air traffic growth.”
The Middle East aviation industry is witnessing an exciting time with the region recording the second highest passenger traffic growth rate and continuing with its multi-billion-dollar airport expansion and modernization programs. Whether it is the latest scanning technologies, passenger experiences or robot baggage handlers the region’s airports are investing in the latest of technology and concepts and stay ahead of competition,” he added.
The world’s largest annual aviation event brings together more than 300 exhibitors from over 90 countries under one roof to showcase their innovative and game-changing products offered to key decision-makers across the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia aviation industry, which is witnessing a massive growth.
The show is supported by International Civil Aviation Authority (ICAO), Dubai Civil Aviation Authority (DCAA), Dubai Aviation Engineering Projects (DAEP), Dubai Airports, dnata, Contractors Association and Shipping and Cargo Logistics Group (SCLG).
Airport Security Middle East features a dedicated conference and exhibition hosting top officials from regional airport security departments and facilitating over 1,000 pre-scheduled meetings for airport security exhibitors.
The B2B show occupies an exhibition space of 10,860 square meters at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre (DICEC), with larger participation by country pavilions from Germany, France, UK, Italy, Switzerland, USA and China.
Delivering the keynote Address at the Global Airport Leaders’ Forum (GALF), Dubai Airports CEO Paul Griffiths said: “Technology will improve the airport experience for the future of travelers as most of things they hate today will be removed such as security hassle, long distance to the aircraft among others.”
“He said 10 million passengers take plane every day and it will go up to 21 million by 2035. Dubai is spending $12 billion on infrastructure to boost the capacity to 90 million at Dubai International airport.”
He said an all-encompassing ‘synchronized recovery’ is evident and the aviation industry is witnessing rapid growth after suffering socio-economic upheavals and geo-political storms following the debilitating global financial crisis in 2008.
According to International Air Transport Association (IATA) global passenger traffic results for 2016 Middle East carriers had the strongest regional annual traffic growth for the 5th year in a row at 11.8% compared with the global average of 6.3%.
