Dubai 97 is being held at Dubai International Airport, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, between 16 November and 20 November. The show will be open each day between 09.00 and 18.00.
The event is being organised by Fairs and Exhibitions (1992), 6 Broadstone Place London W1H 3FJ, UK; tel: +44 (171) 935 8537; fax: +44 (171) 935 8161.
The organiser's Dubai office address is PO Box 773, Dubai, UAE; tel +9714 822855; fax +9714 822866;
Pilatus will hope a flying display will help to swell its PC-12 orderbook
The Dubai air show has become one of the most significant international events in the regular two-year air show calendar during the past few years. In regional terms, the event is second behind Singapore's Asian Aerospace, and worldwide it has risen to fourth position.
That achievement is a reflection of the importance of the Middle East region as a market for airliners (especially long-haul aircraft), as a particularly wealthy home for corporate aircraft and as a hotbed of international tensions which are driving demand for the most up-to-date combat aircraft available.
Dubai '97 will play host to a mushrooming business-aircraft industry. Fresh from the September National Business Aviation Association convention in Dallas, many manufacturers will be bringing their hardware for appraisal in possibly the world's most influential business-jet market - especially at the larger end. A great deal of attention will be focused on top-of-the-range long-range business aircraft rivals Bombardier, whose Global Express will be given its Dubai debut with full interior, and Gulfstream, with its Gulfstream V.
Airbus Industrie will be touting for sales of its A319CJ(corporate jet), for which it will display a cabin mock-up. The Toulouse-based consortium has already clocked up seven orders for the $35 million twinjet airliner, but will be wanting to stimulate further interest in the wake of Boeing Business Jets' (BBJ) announcement that it is to offer its Next Generation BBJ, a variant of the 737-700 airliner through Executive Jet Aviation's Netjets fractional-ownership programme.
In the mid-sized range, Cessna will display its Citation X, Raytheon its Hawker 800XP and Dassault its Falcon 2000 business jet. The French manufacturer is also planning to enter the fractional-ownership arena by the end of the year, and is expected to offer shares in the twin-engined aircraft "to existing programmes".
Tilt-rotor debutante
Another Dubai '97 debutante is the Bell-Boeing Model 609 tilt-rotor in mock-up form. To date, the $8-10 million aircraft, the first flight of which is due in 1999, has attracted purchase agreements over 29 customers, amounting to 41 aircraft, and poses a serious threat to other helicopter manufacturers such as Eurocopter, which has revived its own tilt-rotor studies.
The line-up at the lighter end of the general-aviation (GA) market is weak, represented to date only by the Cessna Skyhawk 172 and 182 piston singles, the Boeing MD600 single-engined and Explorer twin-engined helicopters, AMF of Pakistan's updated Mushshak trainer (the smallest aircraft in the flying display), the Zenair CH701 kitplane and the Pilatus PC-12 single-turboprop (the other GA aircraft in the flying display). The Swiss company will be hoping to swell its orderbook, following the recent US approval of commercial single-engined-operations instrument flight-rules - approval of which the UK's Civil Aviation Authority recently resisted.
The exhibition organisers anticipate that "serious announcements" will be made at the show, although only one pending $5 million, three-year lease contract, between Amman-based executive charter company Arab Wings and an undisclosed "multi-national company", have been revealed. Arab Wings will release further details at the show.
Airbus Industrie and Boeing go to Dubai with important items on their "to-do" lists. Both manufacturers are planning to exhibit hardware at the show, and both are poised to launch new variants of the aircraft being displayed. Airbus will bring either the A330-200 or A340-300 development aircraft. The A330-200 had its first flight in August and Airbus says that flight-testing of the first aircraft is going better than expected. If time can be spared from the schedule, it will be brought to Dubai, but it looks more likely that the A340 will need to deputise. Local carrier Emirates is a launch customer for the new long-range A330, and the programme was given its go-ahead just after the corresponding show two years ago.
Airbus' main priority as the year draws to a close is the full industrial launch of the A340-500/600 models, which could be one of the major announcements during the show. Two carriers, Virgin Atlantic and Air Canada, have committed to the models, and the manufacturer is eager to get the programme onto a firm basis before the end of the year.
Latest 777 on display
Boeing is planning to display its latest version of the 777, the -300, which had its first flight on 16 October, as it seeks firm commitments for the larger, longer-range 777-200/300X versions to enable the programme to be formally launched. Several carriers in the region have bought the existing 777, including Emirates, Kuwait Airways and Saudi Arabian, and Dubai could provide Boeing with the venue to launch the new models. There will also be some interest in the details of Boeing's recently signed deal with China, and operators will be keen to see how Boeing is coping with its production difficulties as well as discussing details of its ultra-long range 747 derivative.
Sirocco Aerospace International will be displaying the Rolls-Royce RB.211-powered Tupolev Tu-204-120. The UK-based company undertakes the leasing activities for Egypt's Kato Aromatic, which has orders for 30 of the R-R-powered twinjets. Several lease deals have already been concluded to carriers in both the CIS and the Middle East.
The regional sector is represented by hardware from Fairchild Dornier (328), and Raytheon (Beech 1900D), while the Bombardier Canadair Regional Jet and Embraer RJ145 are notable by their absence from the aircraft-exhibitors' list, which is perhaps surprising given the current impetus of the regional-jet market. Both manufacturers will have stands.
L-159 first appearance
Show debutantes in the combat-aircraft arena include the Czech Aero Vodochody L-159 light-fighter aircraft, having its international first appearance, as well as the thrust-vectoring variant of the Sukhoi Su-27M, dubbed the Su-37, which will fly at the show, as will the Su-30Mk1 and Su-29M. It is not certain whether the thrust-vectoring Flanker is to fly, but it should again provide a talking point if it does.
The Aero L-159 had its maiden flight in August, with the aircraft on order for the Czech air force. The company aims to build on the export successes of its L-39 and L-59 with the L-159 .
With the United Arab Emirates (UAE) yet to determine the winner of its strike-fighter competition, there will be much interest in the three contenders. Dassault and Lockheed Martin are showing off the Rafale and F-16, respectively, while British Aerospace is displaying a full-scale mock-up of the Eurofighter EF2000.
The German parliament's defence and budget committee approvals of the Government's procurement decision should give it added relevance- the EF2000 was re-introduced to the UAE fighter competition earlier this year, when it had previously appeared that only an extended-range variant of the F-16, the Block 60, and the Rafale were under consideration.
Some of the region's armed forces continue to harbour ambitions to acquire next-generation attack helicopters and Boeing's AH-64D attack helicopter will also be in attendance. Kuwait is in the throes of procuring a variant of the AH-64D and the UAE is an AH-64A operator, as are Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Other aircraft on display include Jet Aviation's VIP Boeing 727-100, and the L1011 Flying Hospital, first shown at the 1997 Paris air show.
Source: Flight International
