Shaikh Mohammad to open Dubai Airshow

The patron of the Dubai Airshow His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, will officially open the 12th edition of the biennial event at 10am on Sunday. Aircraft manufacturers Boeing and Airbus will offer their latest products and services to their customers in the region — the second highest aviation growth market in the world. Boeing's 787 Dreamliner will also make its Middle East debut. Running until Thursday at the Airport Expo, this year's Dubai Airshow is the biggest yet, with nearly 55,000 trade visitors attending during the week and up to 30,000 visitors expected on the first day alone. Expressing happiness Shaikh Mohammad on Saturday expressed happiness over the continued success of the Dubai Airshow. In a message published by the Nation Shield (Dira' Al Watan), Shaikh Mohammad said: "I am pleased to see the 12th edition of the Dubai Airshow takes off, flying from success to success and continuing its quantitative and qualitative growth ensuring the volume and quality of exhibits, activities as well as numbers of exhibitors and visitors". "I am proud of the position our show ensures today among the largest international exhibitions in the field. I am more proud of the fact that our citizens make this global event happen through meticulous organization and management of the airshow, where the most modern creations and technology produced by the human mind in the fields of aviation, communication, empowerment and training are exhibited," Shaikh Mohammdd added. "We look at the success achieved by this exhibition as one in a series of successes achieved by the UAE in several areas. The success of the Airshow is thus an extension of the country's prestigious position in all regional and international forums. This is a logical result of the rise in all key indicators of development and progress from the Security and Stability Index, as well as other indicators of human development, and the endless competitiveness in the areas of infrastructure and good governance," he said. "In UAE we have always stressed that success has no finishing line", Shaikh Mohammad emphasized, adding that the success achieved today will be scattered in the wind tomorrow, if not sustained through maintenance, renewal and development. Sheikh Mohammad congratulated the management of the exhibition and praised the launch of the First Gulf Conference on air training, which he said has great prominence in the region. Celebration Meanwhile, Alison Weller, managing director of airshow organiser F&E Aerospace, said: "On Sunday, we are opening the doors on an airshow that's not only proudly decked out in the UAE's colours in celebration of the nation's 40th anniversary, we are promising a stunning celebration of the aerospace industry itself, which you will see in the packed exhibition halls and the static aircraft displays outside, plus the daily aerial displays. Excitement "Nothing can beat the excitement of watching the most technically-advanced fighters and even commercial airliners go through stunning manoeuvres right over your head." Dassault's Rafale fighter, Boeing's F18 Super Hornet and the Eurofighter Typhoon will take to the air, along with other civil and military aircraft, for the daily displays. The Boeing Dreamliner will be joining over 120 aircraft on the static aircraft park.