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The show is seen as a psychological boost for airlines, plane makers
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The Airshow will be the largest aerospace trade event to be held since the pandemic
Five months before the Dubai Airshow starts, the organizer has made it clear that the biggest aerospace trade show and a spectacle for business deals worth of billions of dollars is going to be held under capacity restrictions in November because of the threat to health from Covid-19
Even though few deals are expected as the industry seeks to preserve cash, the show is seen as a psychological boost for airlines and plane makers to reset an industry battered by the health crisis.
It will also take the temperature of regional conflicts and tensions between the United States and Iran.
The Dubai Airshow, scheduled for Nov. 14-18, will be the largest aerospace trade event to be held since the pandemic forced the cancelation of European shows Farnborough and Le Bourget in 2020 and 2021, respectively.
It is a magnet for tens of thousands of visitors including planemakers, their suppliers, airlines, arms firms and military officials from around the world. Over the years it became a key industry summit as state carriers like host Emirates reshaped international travel through their Gulf hubs.
Timothy Hawes, managing director of organizer Tarsus F&E, said the number of exhibitors who had signed up for this year’s show was so far the same as when it was last held in 2019. “We are confident as we stand at the moment that the interest is there,” Hawes told Reuters in an online interview.
The five-day show in 2019 welcomed over 84,000 visitors and 1,200 exhibitors, according to the organizer. Exhibition stands are to be spread further apart from each other this year than in previous shows to maintain distancing between attendees, Hawes said.
