The commercial aerospace industry is enjoying an unprecedented period of expansion with new orders hovering around record levels for three successive years. It is already certain to reach a new peak this year after a glut of new orders announced or confirmed at the Dubai airshow.
Aviation and commercial aerospace have been notoriously cyclical sectors, but the aircraft makers led by Boeing and Airbus have built up huge order backlogs during the last three years, which already represent more than five years work.
Both big jet makers have been surprised that the level of demand has stayed so strong for so long, but both Boeing and Airbus expect to achieve a record volume of new orders again in 2007 with each taking firm orders for more than 1,000 big jets.
Business jet makers are sharing in the rapid growth, as demand for private aviation expands far beyond the frontiers of its old heartland, North America. For the first time markets outside the US are accounting for more than half of the new orders for executive jets being booked by groups such as Bombardier, Dassault, Cessna and Gulfstream.
The buoyant mood is resonating through this week’s Dubai Airshow, which is taking place November 11-15 at the centre of a Middle East region, that is leading the surge in aviation growth.
Dubai already rivals Singapore as the third biggest airshow behind only Le Bourget in Paris and Farnborough in the UK, and announcements this week underline how rapidly the Gulf region has emerged as a factor of global importance in both aviation and aerospace.
Among Middle East carriers Emirates and Qatar Airways are leading the charge and rapidly building their fleets, as they take advantage of their geographic location at the centre of the world’s airways to capture a growing share of world traffic.
The pole position in the region was taken long ago by Dubai itself with the development both of Emirates as one of the world’s pre-eminent long-haul airlines and of Dubai International airport as a leading aviation hub.
Its neighbours Qatar and Abu Dhabi are following the Dubai example with the development of their own flag carriers Qatar Airways and Etihad and the construction of matching ambitious airport capacity.
Dubai has maintained an unmatched vision and ambition, however. Exploiting its enviable geographic position as a focal point of the world’s airways Dubai has embarked on building nothing less than Dubai World Central, designed to be the world’s biggest aviation hub for both passengers and cargo eventually with six runways and a capacity to handle 120-150m passengers a year 12m tonnes of cargo.
