GAME 2008

The first GA event for the Middle East was staged at the Grosvenor House hotel in Dubai on 29-30 April 2008.

General Aviation in the Middle East (GAME) was hosted and sponsored by Dubai Airports and was addressed by HH Sheik Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority and Chairman of Dubai Airports and Paul Griffiths, CEO, Dubai Airports.

Speakers from a variety of GA disciplines provided their view on the way forward for GA in Dubai. A number of issues were raised including the need to provide greater flexibility in terms of airspace control. Paul Griffiths expressed the view that the aviation ground infrastructure now in place needed to be complemented by similar capacity in the sky.

Other speakers highlighted some of the issues surrounding FBOs and what improvements could be made to facilitate the rapidly expanding business fleet.  

The event was attended by delegates from the GCC, Europe and the United States and full conference proceedings and the event video are available as a download through the event archive or by contacting MIU Events on admin@miuevents.com

Very Light Jets - Middle East (VLJ-ME) 2008

MIU staged the second Very Light Jets - Middle East: Flying Light Business Class event at the Sheraton Jumeirah Beach Resort & Towers, Dubai from 9th to 10th March. There are a lot of issues still to be addressed in the Very Light Jet market and the recent demise of Adam Aircraft has raised a number of questions.

Although the mood was generally positive, all the attendees were mindful of the world economic climate and the recent upheaval in the world money markets. The event chairman, Donald Bunker, summed up what was floating through the minds of the majority of those present:

Comments of the Conference Chairman - Dr. Donald Bunker, Donald H. Bunker & Associates:

"The recent VLJ Conference has given us an excellent opportunity to hear about this new vehicle from those closest to the issues, to ask questions and to voice our views. There is no doubt that the VLJ will fill a significant gap in the corporate and private aircraft line-up and attract a new segment of potential participants. Those who heretofore could not, or did not wish to afford the use of private aircraft, can now do so at low capital investment and reasonable operating costs.

However, this is no time for euphoria. The entire aviation industry must face certain hard realities. Leading newspapers and journals have made it clear that the world is definitely in a severe economic decline and possibly the deepest since the early 1970s. The residents of most industrialized countries, particularly the United States, must now accept the fact that the time has come to pay the price for their financial misdoings: bigger government, socialism, currency debasement and the resulting inflation. The rising national debts, are so huge that there is a great possibility (some even say certainty) that some currencies, particularly the U.S. dollar may even collapse. People’s homes are being lost, pensions have drastically been reduced or even eliminated all together, and many of the elderly have to return to work. While the politicians play with semantics, the U.S. economy is undoubtedly in recession with inflation continuing to rise. Don’t be surprised if the recent billions of dollars of aircraft orders are not converted to actual sales! Bad times are upon us!

Does that mean that the industrial economies will not survive? No, of course not! The question really is who will be the survivors? Prudent management including the cutting of costs and the reducing of debt will go a long way to determining the winners."

For further details on the event or to access the proceedings for VLJ-ME 08 go the archive link from the menu on the left or contact admin@miuevents.com.  

International Air Taxi Convention (IATC) 2008

Delegates from 32 countries attended the first International Air Taxi Convention (IATC) at the Westin Diplomat Hotel and Convention Center in Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood, Florida, on January 23-25.

The mood was upbeat as air taxi owners, operators, OEMs, FBOs, financing, leasing, insurance, support and service suppliers all mingled and networked in convivial surroundings. Bruce Holmes and Steve Hanvey outlined their vision of the future and Ed Iacobucci told us how DayJet was structuring and developing its routes. 

To the naysayers, Steve Hanvey, reminded delegates of the reaction of the media and commentators when the television was invented and how even Bill Gates underestimated the development and progress of computer technology.

The Air Taxi is here to stay was the message to the attendees and the challenge for the industry is to harness the potential of the VLJ and ensure the business customer understands the nature of point to point, on demand air taxi services and appreciates the options now available.

The convention heard from business owners, administrators, innovators and aviators from all corners of the globe as they outlined their business plans and how to create and sustain an air taxi and support operations.

Joe Leader from the Air Taxi Association reported on how the Association had developed in a comparatively short timescale and the significant strides that had been made in e-commerce solutions and innovative member driven initiatives from operators in the United States and Europe. For more on the Air Taxi Association go to their website at: www.atxa.com

The event was well recieved and will be staged again on 25-26 February 2009.

For further details on the event or to access the proceedings for IATC 2008, go the archive link from the menu on the left or contact admin@miuevents.com.  

Very Light Jets - Latin America and the Caribbean (VLJ-LAC) 2007

Conference chairman, Oscar Garcia, provides his thoughts on the first VLJ - LAC event held in Rio de Janiero, December 10-11, 2007.
 “The VLJ Latin America/Caribbean Conference was one of the most interactive and results driven Conferences I have Chaired. The Conference yielded initiatives that could be instrumental in creating a  favorable framework facilitating  brisk growth of the Air Taxi and VLJ industry sectors in the region such as; a regional committee to embrace the region’s business aircraft association discussed and promoted between the Air Taxi Association and the Brazilian ABAG and  exploring the design features of a “Taxi Cab Cooperative Style” pilot network system in all Brazilian airports to reduce costs and  increase flexibility of new operators by the Brazilian Institute for Strategic Studies in Transportation (CEPTA).
I was impressed to hear lively discussions between the attendees and insurance/legal/compliance panelists about very forward looking safety and operational methods such as Flight Operations Quality Assurance (FOQA) and their impact in insurance and financing costs. Latin American attendees were well versed and briefed on the Cape Town convention and the most up to date aircraft financing tools.  Regulators and associations explored ways to inform and educate both governments and the public about “Business Aircraft used as Tools and not as Toys”
Panel discussions yielded estimates for around 750 VLJs to be delivered in the region between 2008-2017 and the interactive workshop discussed in detail the pros and cons of single engine and single pilot VLJ Air Taxi operations. It was exciting to see Embraer executives engaged in new technologies and safety discussions with the ATXA, US and Latin American operators."
For further details on the event or to download the proceedings please go to the archive button from the home page menu or contact us at admin@miuevents.com

Financing Aviation in the Middle East (FAME) 2007

............took place at the Sheraton Jumeirah Beach, Dubai from 7th to 8th November 2007 and was attended by industry professionals from the GCC, Europe and the USA. The event was a curtain raiser for the Dubai Air Show and the delegates were given an insight into the multi phased development of the newly renamed Al Maktoum airport.

The aviation city and the airport will form part of Dubai World Central (DWC) which will occupy 140 square kilometres to the west of Dubai. The MRO centre will be the biggest in the world in terms of area and will handle everything from light jets to the A380. DWC has earmarked additional zones dedicated to GA operations, a heliport, educational and training facilities, an industrial zone and a hub for aircraft components and parts supply.

Not content with providing potentially the largest aviation centre in the world Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE) announced that it is set to invest several billion dollars in India and they would, in collaboration with top engineering schools there, build a "world class aerospace R&D centre in India". Delegates at FAME were told that currently 0.04% of the Indian population travelled by air. Even modest growth would fill 100's of A-380s.

For more from FAME please refer to the MIU archive.