Alsalam Aircraft, the Saudi aircraft maintenance specialist, is at the show with plans to expand its activities into Europe.
The firm is also planning to create an Apache service centre in Saudi Arabia, to serve both the kingdom and to act as a regional centre for looking after the aircraft type.
Speaking straight after a marathon three-day board meeting, interim president and chief executive Mohammed Fallatah said: "Our three-year plan calls for diversifying our activities in the Middle East and we are optimistic that we can expand our activities into Europe.
"We have already carried out some work for companies in the European civil sector and our intention is to do more."
The firm, a 50/50 joint venture between Boeing and an alliance of Saudi Arabia Airlines and Gulf investors, grew out of an offset arrangement. It was founded in 1988.
Today it has 2,100 employees at its base in Riyadh and at other civil and military airfields in the Kingdom.
The firm carries out maintenance on civil and military aircraft, including Boeing 747s, AWACS and Tornado aircraft.
"The real message we intend to get across to people at Dubai airshow is that we are now a well-established company operating in both the civil and military sectors," says Fallatah
Source: Flight Daily News
