Panel discussion on "The future of private aircraft design" at MEBAA Conference Dubai 2018.
Business aviation show opens with new launches, new aircraft, renewed optimism.
The MEBAA Show 2018 opened its doors yesterday to a host of new exhibitors, exciting new aircraft and ground-breaking new technology solutions.
Taking place every two years, The MEBAA Show is the largest business aviation event in the Middle East, with this year’s edition attracting more than 450 exhibitors and 34 stunning business jets on static display.
The three-day event began with a royal tour by HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority, President of the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority, Chairman, Dubai Airports, Chairman and Chief Executive, Emirates Airline and Group, who took the time to visit with a number of exhibitors, including Click Aviation, Pratt & Witney, Honeywell, XJet and Aloft AeroArchitects.
Sheikh Ahmed unveiled the Aviation One office complex, Dubai South’s flagship commercial property during his visit to the Dubai South Chalet, at MEBAA 2018. Sheikh Ahmed was updated on the development by Tahnoon Saif, CEO of the Aviation District at Dubai South, who said: “Aviation one is a premium, one-stop shop business facility…. located next to the VIP Terminal at the heart of the General Aviation District at Dubai South, the world’s first real aviation eco-system.”
Day One opened to the global launch of a ground-breaking new aircraft from Boeing Business Jets (BBJ), the BBJ 777X, vaunted as the longest-range business jet ever, with an astonishing range of 11,645 nautical miles – that’s 21,570 kilometres. The aircraft heralds a new era in business aviation as it can fly from and to anywhere in the world, without stopping to refuel.
Greg Laxton, Head of Boeing Business Jets, said his company had chosen to launch the aircraft – which flies at a lower altitude, features the most fuel-efficient engine on the market (the 2020 GE9X) and offers the widest, tallest cabin in the world – in the Middle East as this region is the company’s biggest market for its wide-body aircraft.
“We are launching the business jet version of the 777 here at The MEBAA Show as 52 per cent of our global twin aisle [aircraft] business comes from this region. We enjoy a 12 per cent market share in this region, which we hope to maintain looking ahead.”
Laxton revealed that the first BBJ – squarely aimed at the VVIP, HNWI and Heads of State sector – will roll off the production lines in Q1 2021, with sales expected to be in line with those witnessed for the BBJ 747. Boeing predicts overall demand for 2,990 new aircraft in the Middle East by 2037, with a value of $754 billion. Currently, 70 per cent of the world’s wide-bodied business jets are based in the Middle East.
Ali Alnaqbi, Founding & Executive Chairman of the Middle East and North Africa Business Aviation Association (MEBAA), says: “Everyone is looking to the MEBAA Show as a barometer of what the next few years hold for the sector. Boeing Business Jets choosing the event to reveal its ground-breaking new offering underlines the positivity we all hold for the region’s business jet sector. The market has been healthy, despite all the challenges of the last few years, and the MEBAA Show continues to record growth in terms of exhibitors, aircraft on our static display and the number of visitors.”
Meanwhile Online Global Trip Support chose the MEBAA Show to launch a combined suite of new products aimed at helping industry operators save time, money and hassle.
OGTS’ Founder, Chairman and CEO, Munir Khalifa, has brought together the state-of-the-art digital products which aim to streamline workflow for complete operations.
“OGTS takes care of operations in one convenient dashboard environment,” explained the industry veteran, who also serves as President of the International Aviation Services Organisation (IASO), “providing all you need to create a service request, identify flights, fleet information and schedule flights. We have created a simple user interface that pulls all the strands of flight operation under one umbrella – such as licences, permits, fuelling and handling, thanks to our global team of highly experienced staff, all of whom come from a flight operations background.”
On top of OGTS, the company offers an online travel booking service, Traviators, providing a full range of travel services for staff, employees and crew, with the ability to create a one-time company profile detailing budgetary allowances for different staff level, and hotel preferences for example.
The third arm of the OGTS triumvirate of show launches is Fusion – an online integrated management system designed to enable SMEs to achieve international regulations and standards.
MEBAA Dubai Conference reveals industry future, super fast permit plans
The MEBAA Conference Dubai opened with regional industry experts discussing a bright future for the business aviation sector and news of Dubai providing extremely fast private aircraft landing permits.
The event, held in conjunction with the biennial MEBAA Show, invites regional and global thought leaders to share frank and forthright discussion on the issues shaping the regional business aviation sector. A packed two-day agenda covers the burning issues like blockchain, cyber security, aircraft design, climate change, innovation, law and regulation and connectivity.
Opening the event with a UAE market focus, industry veteran Alan Peaford, Editor-in-Chief, Arabian Aerospace commented that the market has been experiencing turbulent times, yet predicted the region would see 175,000 private aircraft movements by 2020, and around 1200 business aircraft. He said: “Regulators need to keep up with the rapid changes in the industry, and MEBAA needs to keep up the pressure on the regulators.”
During an enlightening keynote presentation, H.E. Jamal Al Hai, Member of UAE Federal National Council, Deputy Chairman, Dubai Airports, revealed that Dubai – which already provides extremely fast private aircraft landing permits in just 30 minutes – has even more ambitious plans.
“In line with the government’s vision to make Dubai the best air transit hub in the world, Dubai Civil Aviation Authority is now granting private aircraft landing permits in just 30 minutes – with plans to reduce this to just 15 by using smart solutions.”
Operating to the airport of any foreign country requires securing a landing permit from the country’s civil aviation authority. The issuing requirements vary from country to country, based on local regulations, volume of traffic its airports receive and the type of flight. Some countries can take days to issue a permit, His Excellency explained.
H.E. Jamal Al Hai discussed the value of business aviation as a support for national economies, describing the aviation sector as “an impressive success story for Dubai.” He said: “The aviation sector is expected to contribute US$88.1 billion – some 45 per cent of the UAE’s GDP by 2030. UAE has 147 private aircraft, providing business people with more than 50,000 flights in 2017. We expect this number to grow, especially with Expo 2020.”
He said the UAE ranks second in the Arab world after Saudi Arabia in terms of the numbers of private aircraft.
His comments were followed by a panel discussion on the future of private aircraft design, featuring senior executives from Embraer, Bombardier and Gulfstream. The lively discussion saw the trio of influencers reveal their views on the future of aircraft design.
The three agreed that the region’s infrastructure and airports are very business aviation friendly environments, with Steve Cass, Vice President, Sales Development & Support, Gulfstream, suggesting that: “We’d love to see other regions investing in solid business aviation infrastructure like Dubai has.”
Khader Mattar, Vice President, Sales, MEA and Asia Pacific & China at Bombardier, the regional leader in terms of aircraft numbers, agreed, suggesting that: “Dubai is built on business, so had to provide world-class facilities to encourage business aviation. But while the model is evolving across the region, small airports are not being utilised well.”
Claudio Camelier, Vice President, Sales at Embraer, said: “The region is generous in tax terms, so it’s a good region to purchase and operate a business aircraft. What we see in the region is a lack of hangars to store these expensive aircraft.”
Bombadier’s Mattar said clients are looking for bigger, faster, more efficient aircraft. “Speed and size seem to be the deciding factors, along with comfort. It’s not even called a cabin any more. It’s the small elements that are built into the aircraft design that take time – that’s why it takes four or five years to complete a new aircraft.”
As one of the industry’s newest players, Claudio Camelier, Vice President, Sales at Embraer said innovation drives his company’s offerings, and brings value. The company has around 50 aircraft in the Middle East, including the Embraer Phenom 100EV with Emirates and Etihad for pilot training.
Steve Cass, Vice President, Sales Development & Support, Gulfstream, said: “All of us have great new products, and industry innovation is great for us all. We are seeing transformational products, great advances in safety, speed, efficiency and comfort. People increasingly expect the transition from home to office to aircraft to be seamless. We have technologies that enable this.”
In terms of new technology and where the industry is heading, Cass suggested that aircraft range is about as far as it can go and speed has reached a point where travelling close to the speed of sound is the new norm. “The new breeds of fast aircraft mean we are giving time back to operators. There’s less need for maintenance, as maintenance is based on hours flown and there’s increased safety because of shorter flying times,” he said.
Ali Alnaqbi, Founding & Executive Chairman of the Middle East & North Africa Business Aviation Association (MEBAA) said: “We are seeing maturity in terms of customers and companies knowing exactly what they want in an aircraft. The conference is an opportunity for leading players to come together and discuss what these changing requirements are – and how to respond to client needs. Our industry is clearly driven by innovation and technology, and these themes are prevalent throughout the conference stream.
MEBAA attracts new Board members
Ali Alnaqbi, Founding & Executive Chairman of the Middle East and North Africa Business Aviation Association (MEBAA) welcomes a host of senior industry figures to the organisation he founded in 2006.
MEBAA, a non-profit organisation, was created with the aim of providing a platform for the MENA region’s business aviation industry to gather, understand and discuss the needs and benefits of the industry.
On the first day of the MEBAA Show 2018, which runs from 10-12 December at the purpose-built DWC Airshow Site, Alnaqbi revealed the organisation is now headed by a board comprising 15 members.
The Association welcomes two new members to its Board and also took the opportunity presented by the largest gathering of the business aviation sector in the region to announced changes to its Board of Directors.
Joining the Board Members will be Mohammed Husary, Co-Owner and Executive Vice President UAS International Trip Support and Joshua Stewart, Founder and CEO of XJet.
Robert Smith, President of Jet Aviation has been appointed to the board, while Ruedi Kraft, Managing Director, Kraft Aviation Solutions GmbH has been appointed Board Advisor and Nicolas Robinson, Regional SVP Middle East and Africa joins the board representing Gulfstream.
“The board is delighted to welcome the new members.” said Ali Alnaqbi, MEBAA Founding and Executive Chairman, “We welcome this influential new influx to our board and association, and are sure all of them will add to the overall aims of MEBAA – which is simply to increase business aviation levels in the Middle East.”
Taking place every two years, The MEBAA Show is now the largest business aviation event in the Middle East, with this year’s edition attracting more than 450 exhibitors and 34 stunning business jets on static display. There are currently around 540 business aircraft in the regional fleet, according to Alnaqbi, who also represents the Middle East as vice chairman of the International Business Aviation Council.
The event, now in its eighth edition, runs until today, 12 December at the purpose-built DWC, Airshow Site, and this year includes more than 450 exhibitors, 34 aircraft on static display and almost ten thousand visitors from all over the globe.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
