Cleared for take-off
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With the MEBAA Show 2022 slated to take place this month, here’s what to expect he ninth edition of the Middle East and North Africa Business Aviation Association (MEBAA) Show 2022 will take place from December 6-8 at DWC, Dubai Airshow Site. The business aviation sector will showcase its global and regional might, with the event expected to attract more than 8,000 attendees from over 95 countries. Timothy Hawes (below), managing director at Tarsus Group which is the organiser of the MEBAA Show 2022, shares his insights on what to look forward to at this year’s mega event.
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DECEMBER 2022
Give us a sense of the scale of this year’s MEBAA show. The MEBAA Show 2022 is spread out over more than 4,700 sqm and features diverse local, regional and international exhibitors. It will see the return of major players such as Airbus, Boeing, Comlux, Dassault, Gulfstream and several others, along with over 40 new exhibitors from 20 countries. This year, we have focused on in-person networking opportunities, with a series of new features such as Connect to generate a return on investment for exhibitors. We have also introduced new lounges and hospitality throughout the static display. The MEBAA Show 2022 will offer a platform to discuss the latest trends and showcase new aircraft and technologies, including eVTOLs, digitalisation, tokenisation and crypto-based payments. How does the Middle East’s business aviation market compare to the likes of North America? The global private jet market is projected to reach US$39.84 billion in 2025, up 54 per cent from US$25.87 billion in 2021. While the Middle East is at the forefront of this rapid increase,
the growth is also being witnessed across other regions. Europe, for example, saw nearly 300,000 business jet flights in the first half of the year, a 38 per cent increase over the same period last year, and a 17 per cent rise over 2019. This rise was a result of pent-up demand for travel since the pandemic began, with high net worth individuals opting to fly on private jets rather than first class on commercial airlines. Meanwhile, the US, which is the world’s biggest business aviation market, saw increases of 11.7 per cent and 14.4 per cent in departures in May and June this year, when compared to the corresponding months in 2019, according to data from Airbus Corporate Jets. Despite the US being recognised as the world’s biggest market, the Middle East – specifically the GCC region – is showing some of the strongest growth in business jet demand, notably from the UAE, where flights were up by 73 per cent compared to 2019. The growth momentum across the Middle East continued into 2022, with flights up by 47 per cent in May, in comparison with the same period in 2019 – compared to 11.7 per cent in the US.
