Dubai Airshow: UAE basks in sunlit success

Emirates has a long-standing reputation for excellence and luxury, and now Etihad has been voted as the world’s leading airline in the prestigious World Travel Awards. Abu Dhabi’s Royal Jet won it’s third World Travel Award as the best jet charter operator.

Airport expansion and improvement in the region continues apace, and a new, ‘all executive’ airport is under construction at Al Bateen.

And the UAE’s armed forces are undergoing a period of dramatic expansion and re-equipment, with new aircraft entering service, and further orders on the verge of being placed. This year’s airshow sees a UAE air force F-16 and UH-60 in the aircraft static park, as well as a UAE Army AH-64D Longbow Apache.

And progress is also being made in establishing real indigenous industrial capabilities. Mubadala is building its Stratos composites manufacturing at Al Ain, and this will eventually produce components for ATR and even for Airbus, for use on the mighty A380.

On a much smaller scale, Dubai-based Perla has acquired Ukrainian helicopter manufacturer DB Aerocopter, and will manufacture the AK-1 helicopter under licence in the UAE, from Ukrainian-supplied components.