This year’s Dubai Airshow is set to be the biggest on record, with more than 1,400 exhibitors from 95 countries expected to attend the biennial event.
The 18th edition of the Airshow will take place from November 13-17 at Dubai World Central (DWC), Dubai Airshow Site.
Prominent participants this year include Emirates, Etihad Airways, Riyadh Air, Saudia, and Qatar Airways, as well as aircraft manufacturers such as Boeing which will have its 777X on display, among several others.
The Dubai Airshow will feature static and flying displays. The static display will showcase more than 180 commercial and military aircraft.
The event includes 400 first-time exhibitors and over 80 startups across sectors including commercial aviation, advanced aerial mobility, space, defence and military, business aviation, air traffic management, and emerging technology, among others.
The second edition of VISTA, the startup platform for aerospace entrepreneurs, returns this year. Co-located with Dubai Airshow, VISTA will assemble global startups from a variety of future-focused industries, including robotics, sustainability, drones, eVTOLs, UAVs and space. The four-day programme on the Startup Stage will host keynotes and panel discussions from among the startup stakeholders.
Overall, Dubai Airshow 2023 will host more than 300 speakers and feature more than 80 hours of content around topics including sustainability, space, advanced aerial mobility, air traffic management, passenger experience, and diversity.
An expanded space pavilion, in partnership with the UAE Space Agency, will also be a part of this year’s edition. It will include the likes of Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC), the Technology Innovation Institute (TII), Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) and several others who will showcase how the collaboration of the space and aviation industries are shaping the future of travel.
Among the first-time participants at the Airshow is Beond Airlines, an all-business airline that has flights scheduled on routes from Munich, Riyadh and Zurich to Velana International airport (MLE) starting this month, and from Milan and Dubai to Male from March next year. Tero Taskila, CEO and chairman of Beond, said, “Beond is thrilled to have this opportunity to showcase our beautiful, specially-fitted aircraft at the upcoming Dubai Airshow. This marks the beginning of our journey as the world’s first premium leisure airline, and we could not be more pleased to be able to celebrate with industry partners at the Airshow.”
The latest edition of the Airshow comes at a time when Middle Eastern airlines posted a 27.3 per cent increase in August traffic compared to the previous year, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA). Dubai Airports also said that it served 41.6 million guests in the first half of 2023, a 49 per cent increase against the same period in 2022.
