Airports around the world have committed to a $2.4 trillion investment until 2040, to improve and modernize facilities with the Middle East alone accounting for $151 billion. This will lead the way for the 21st Dubai Airport Show, to be held from May 17 to 19, 2022 at the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC), as travel demand picks pace by mid-2022 and airlines return to profitability in 2023.
Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority, Chairman of Dubai Airports, Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates Airline and Group, and Patron of Airport Show, said: “The Airport Show and the co-located events and conferences are to provide an impetus for the aviation industry to appear stronger and better in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and to learn about the latest smart solutions and innovations that will reshape the future of the industry. This is exactly what the Airport Show provided over the past two decades as an ideal platform for collaboration to create the world’s most advanced aviation facilities.”
He added: “Airports and airlines have a technology-based approach to achieve sustainable levels of safety, health, security and efficiency. During the period spent by the international airports on innovation and adopting technology, Dubai has remained at the forefront of developing initiatives that enabled the aviation to recover rapidly.”
Reed Exhibitions Middle East, the organiser of the world’s top global B2B event for the global airport industry, expects the exhibition in this session, to post record growth in the number of exhibitors from different countries as the airports across the world have broken the isolation they experienced due to the coronavirus pandemic and urgently needed networking with the manufacturers of smart solutions and global airports to learn about the best practices to work to keep pace with the projected growth in travel demand starting mid-2022.
According to the forecasts by the Airports Council International (ACI) whose members operate 1,933 airports in 183 countries countries, the Middle East alone need to spend about $151 billion to complete the expansion and modernisation for their airports that were slowed down due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
These countries have to start again their forward journey to keep pace with the expected boom in passenger traffic in the coming years and improve the overall airport experience by utilising new technologies like artificial intelligence and the adoption of biometric systems at check-in and baggage.
The exhibition is supported by the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority, Dubai Aviation Engineering Projects (DAEP), Dubai Airports and dnata. The co-located events will be ATC Forum, Airport Security Middle East, Global Airport Leaders Forum (GALF) and Women in Aviation (WIA) Forum, Airport Passengers Experience Conference and the Future GSE Summit. At the Airport Show, the visitors will be able to see the latest in contactless technologies, artificial intelligence, biometrics, and clean mobility solutions to ensure the hygiene and safety of passengers.
Aviation across the world, as per IATA, is now on their way to recovery and airlines are expected to return to profitability in 2023. After a decade of consistent and robust growth in global passenger traffic, the pandemic halted the surge in airports around the world in the second quarter of 2020, causing total passenger numbers for that year to drop sharply to a level not seen in the world’s airports since 1997.
