Airport Show opens in Dubai tomorrow

The region's largest airports event is to open tomorrow in Dubai.
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The 15th edition of the Airport Show, with the third edition of Global Airport Leaders’ Forum (GALF) and second edition of Travel Catering Expo (TCE) as co-located events, is expected to attract 8000 industry professionals during its three-day run at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre (DICEC).
Occupying about 12,000 square metres of exhibition space, spread over three halls, the show is being held under the patronage and presence of His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority, Chairman of Dubai Airports and Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates Airline and Group.
Strong backing has come from trade bodies like German Airport Technology and Equipment (GATE), Danish Airport Group, British Aviation Group, British Airport Services and Equipment Association, Swiss Airport Suppliers, Netherlands Airport Technology, UBIFRANCE, UAE Society of Engineers and UAE Contractors’ Association.
Sheikh Ahmed said: “The importance of airports as global travel hubs continues to grow and massive investments being made to meet the rising traffic demand are having a positive economic impact throughout the region. In Dubai, the aviation industry is growing exponentially due to the massive airport expansions needed to accommodate the growth in air traffic and airport development continues to play a strategic role in our future growth agenda. The huge and consistent aviation investments will have a positive impact not just for Dubai alone but for the UAE, Gulf region and the world.”
The show has recorded 38 per cent growth in participants for the Hosted Buyers programme with an all-time high participation of 127 hosted buyers. The strong popularity reflects the immense business opportunities offered by the Middle East region. The Hosted Buyers progrmame, launched for the first time in 2009, has been consistently recording massive growth each passing year.
The number of organizations- civil aviation authorities, airlines and other aviation-related bodies - participating in the programme this year has increased to 53, a 55 per cent jump from last year.
The number of countries which will be represented in the programme has gone up by 67 per cent to 30. This year, a ‘Meet the Buyer’ programme has been launched for the Ground Handling, Air Traffic Management (ATM) and Aviation Security segments.
New countries that will be sending aviation delegations as part of the Hosted Buyers programme are: Algeria, Armenia, Bangladesh, Botswana, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Iraq, Lebanon, Malawi, Maldives, Moldova, Qatar, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Tanzania. The countries returning to the 2015 edition are Bahrain, Egypt, India, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tunisia, Uganda and Zimbabwe, along with the host, UAE.
The exhibitors will be unveiling several new technologies, systems and solutions for the aviation industry at the show. There will be six country/region pavilions - Germany, France, UK, Italy, Switzerland and North America (US and Canada)- at the show this year, featuring 102 exhibitors in total.