Sheikh Ahmed touring the Airport Show
Engineering group and airport systems integrator Cavotec struck it rich during the Dubai Airport Show 2011 as companies exhibiting at the event went into top gear presenting their products and entertaining enquiries.
Fujairah International Airport announced the selection of ALES for the supply of an air traffic control system and ERA for the purchase of wide-area multilateration radar.
A leading project that took centre-stage during the show was King Abdulaziz International Airport (KAIA), which aimed to source state-of-the-art technology and construction materials for an estimated spending of $11.3 billion towards its expansion.
'Our participation at Airport Show 2011 provided great business opportunities,' said Mohammed Ahmed Abed, director-general of KAIA. The official also said he was assured of Dubai Airports’ 'willingness to exchange information and efforts to help this new project succeed.'
Vikram Sodha, project director at the Civil Aviation Authority of Pakistan, said discussions took place with other exhibitors including Siemens, Cavotec, DBA and ADPi on possibilities for expanding cooperation in projects to develop the Benazir Bhutto Airport in Islamabad.
Jacob Avis, electronic engineer and IT manager at Ras Al Khaimah International Airport, said: We have already announced a 10-year development plant at Ras Al Khaimah International Airport worth Dh2.5 billion ($680 million). We have benefited from our participation at Airport Show 2011 greatly by conducting numerous discussions and conversations with the exhibitors participating in the exhibition and especially suppliers of baggage handling material, automated weather observation systems and general IT solutions for airport operations.
Cavotec order
The Cavotec order was for the supply of advanced ground support equipment for Dubai International Airport’s dedicated Emirates Airlines A380 terminal. The 'multi-million-dirham' contract was awarded by construction contractor ALEC to supply, supervise, install and commission 58 Cavotec pre-conditioned air (PCAir) and 400 Hz power pop-up pit systems at the airport’s new Concourse 3. Delivery is due to start in Q3 of this year, with commissioning planned for 2012.
'This exciting project illustrates Cavotec’s growing role as a trusted partner and systems integrator in the Middle East airports market and the airports sector as a whole. We look forward to continuing our close cooperation with our partners on this project in the months ahead,' said Ottonel Popesco, Cavotec CEO.
Organised by Reed Exhibitions Middle East, one of the leading organisers of trade and consumer exhibitions, the event caters to the needs of existing and new airports in the region where development and expansion projects are estimated to cost $90 billion over the next few years.
Dr Khaled Al Mazrouei, general manager of Fujairah International Airport and chairman of the Airport Leaders Summit 2011, said: 'As per the International Air Transportation Association (IATA), the UAE is expected to be the world’s second-fastest-growing aviation market in the world with 10.2 per cent growth by 2013, second to China with a 10.8 per cent growth. Over the last decade, Middle Eastern carriers went from 5 per cent of global passenger traffic to 11per cent.'
'Industry analysts also believe that the private air charter business will pick up in the late 2011 and on into 2012. This is evident from the forecasted growth for the region in which aircraft movement is predicted to touch 160,000 by 2018 at a compounded annual growth rate of 6.21 per cent per year for the Middle East region,' he added.
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Cavotech has won an order to supply |
Among leading investors in airport development activity in the Gulf are cities such as Dubai which has allocated $10 billion, Abu Dhabi $6.8 billion, Qatar $11 billion, Jeddah $1.5 billion, Muscat $1.2 billion, Kuwait $2.1 billion and Bahrain $335 million. Statistics from the Airports Council International (ACI) and IATA support the numbers as the global aviation bodies predict airports in the Middle East will handle over 400 million passengers by 2020.
For several years now, airports and airlines have been benefiting from the robust demand for air travel in line with healthy global economic growth.
Exponential growth
Mohamad Bader-Eddin, show director, Reed Exhibitions Middle East, said: 'Airport development and expansion is projected to exponentially grow over the coming years in the Middle East and Asia.'
The Airport Expo held the Airport Leaders Summit which ran for two days on the sidelines of the exhibition and focused on security, sustainable expansion and current economic concerns. The summit offered an opportunity to interact with an elite group of decision-makers from governments and businesses worldwide. It also aimed to find long-term solutions to strategic issues the industry faced in the wake of the global economic uncertainty, rigid credit markets, high fuel prices and changing regulatory norms.
Innovation seminars cover topics such as Cavotec Innovative Gate Systems; Environmental Capacity: Managing the Impact of Airport Noise, and The World’s First Mobile Passenger Terminal. In addition to spotlighting the King Abdulaziz International Airport, project seminars also featured the new design and development of the Benazir Bhutto International Airport in Islamabad, Pakistan.
The Airport Show 2011 was sponsored by King Abdulaziz International Airport, Thales and Tiger Profiles. It was also supported by leading aviation authorities and trade bodies including Dubai Airports, Dubai Civil Aviation Authority, Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC), UAE Contractors Association, British Aviation Group, British Airport Services & Equipment Association (Basea), Danish Airport Group, UBIFrance (the French Agency for international business development) and the Netherlands Airport Technology Group.
