Reed Exhibitions has announced its acquisition of the Airport Show from Streamline Marketing Group.

The Airport Show is the region’s leading procurement event for the aviation and airports sector and held annually in Dubai, UAE. The acquisition is expected to boost the event’s profile and popularity, even as preparations are underway for the show’s next edition in May 2009.
Launched in 2001, the Airport Show is held annually at the Airport Expo, Dubai, and has emerged as one of the world’s largest airport construction, operations, technology and services shows. Its 2008 edition held under the patronage of Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, president, Dubai Civil Aviation Authority (DCAA) and chairman, Dubai Airports, drew over 515 exhibitors occupying more than 18,300 sq m of exhibition space.
Announcing the acquisition, Frederic Theux, president of Reed Exhibitions Middle East, said the Airport Show would join its portfolio of aerospace and aviation events that Reed organised globally including Asian Aerospace, Air Freight Asia, the Aircraft Interiors series, Aerospace Testing and the Helitech series.
“We are committed to further developing our presence in the aerospace and aviation industry. This acquisition also marks another step in the development of our presence in the UAE where we now organise 15 events,” he added.
Laith Kubba, managing partner of Streamline Marketing Group, said: “Over the last eight years we’ve built the show into one of the largest airport exhibitions in the world, making it an attractive acquisition for Reed Exhibitions. As a boutique exhibition and conference organiser our core strength has always been our launching capability and we now look forward to developing three new show launches in partnership with Reed.”
Theux observed that ongoing large-scale development projects across the region would provide continued business opportunities for manufacturers and service providers in such areas as Build & Supply, Security, GSE, Operations, Air Traffic Control, Training and Revenue Management.
“By introducing Reed’s global experience and relationships to the Airport Show’s key stakeholders, we believe the show can now move smoothly to its next stage of development thereby delivering more value to all show participants,” he said.
Ana Mandaric has been appointed as event director for the Airport Show’s 2009 edition. An industry-veteran having previously worked with other leading exhibitions organisers worldwide, Mandaric was previously marketing and strategy director for the Air Traffic Control Exhibition in Amsterdam.