Dubai to keep aviation crown

Paris Air Show fails to beat $210b record deals announced at Dubai Airshow in 2013.

Visitors gather at the Paris Air Show, which concluded on Sunday. Airbus won $57 billion worth of business for a total of 421 aircraft. On the other hand, Boeing secured orders for a total of 331 airplanes, valued at $50.2 billion at list prices. Photo: AP

Dubai: Dubai Airshow will sustain its position as a top international aviation event for commercial airplanes market as the latest edition of Paris Air Show fails to beat its $210 billion record deals announced in 2013.

Paris Air Show, which concluded on Sunday, saw some major deals but both the leading aircraft manufacturers — Airbus and Boeing — won orders and commitments worth $107.2 billion at the largest aviation gathering in Paris.

Aviation sources say forthcoming Dubai Airshow, which is scheduled from November 8-12, is expected to generate commercial planes orders worth more than $100 billion only from the UAE-based companies and will exceed the Paris Air Show’s total announcements this year.

“With the 2015 edition of the Dubai Airshow just over five months away, it’s probably a reasonable assumption that the event will beat that of this year’s Paris Air Show,” London-based StrategicAero Research chief analyst Saj Ahmad told Khaleej Times.

He said Emirates airline is poised to place a massive airplane order and it looks like the 787-10 will be the star of the show in Dubai.

The Dubai-based carrier cancelled 70 A350 orders last June and it has never re-ordered a jet that it has cancelled, he said.

“If in the unlikely event Emirates re-orders the A350, it won’t get any deliveries until 2021 at the earliest as slots are all booked out. The 787-10 however, is due to enter service in 2018 and Boeing has slots that it can assign.”

Availability, lower weight of the 787-10 and better fuel efficiency, around 12-15 per cent lower than the A350-900, is what attracting Emirates to the 787-10 for its mid-long haul flight needs. Any such deal could be worth around $40 billion at list prices as Emirates is looking at roughly 100 such airplanes, he said.

Another aviation analyst said Air Arabia has not yet decided for its next order whether to buy 737 Max family or stick with the A320neo family.

“Dubai Airshow might be the perfect place and time to announce the order for Sharjah-based low-cost carrier,” he said.

At the Paris Air Show, Airbus won $57 billion worth of business for a total of 421 aircraft. The deals comprise firm orders for 124 aircraft worth $16.3 billion and commitments for 297 aircraft worth $40.7 billion. On the other hand, Boeing secured orders for a total of 331 airplanes, valued at $50.2 billion at list prices. “It is impossible to keep expecting every air show to have such blockbuster deals — and it is for that reason that the $210 billion worth of deals seen at the 2013 Dubai Airshow will take a long time to beat,” Ahmad said.

“Even if the 2013 Dubai Airshow record is smashed, the 2013 show still had the single biggest dollar value of orders at an industrial launch for an airplane. The launch of the 777X at the 2013 Dubai Airshow topped $95 billion. That figure alone will be impossible to beat until an all new wide-body jet is launched — and I don’t foresee any new wide-body being launched before 2030 at the earliest,” he explained.

At Dubai Airshow, Emirates, Qatar Airways, Etihad Airways and Lufthansa made the 777x the largest product launch in commercial jetliner history by value.

Organisers, F&E Aerospace and exhibitors of the biennial Dubai Airshow celebrated the historic event, which was held at the new Dubai World Central aerotropolis for the first time in 2013.

abdulbasit@khaleejtimes.com