By Chaitali Bag
Dubai. 12 November 2017. The Dubai Airshow 2017 opened amidst expectancy and hopefulness by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai. He toured the exhibition and saw a number of military and civilian aircraft.
Also present during the inauguration were H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, H.H. Sheikh Hazza bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Chairman of Abu Dhabi Executive Council, H.H. Lt. General Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior, H.H. Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, H.H. Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority and Chief Executive of Emirates Group, H.H. Sheikh Mansour bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Tolerance, Mohammed bin Ahmed Al Bowardi, Minister of State for Defence Affairs, and Lt. General Hamad Mohammed Thani Al Rumaithi, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces.
His Highness then joined officials from Emirates airline and Boeing to witness the signing of a US$15.1 billion commitment to purchase 40 Boeing 787-10 Dreamliners. Emirates is already the world’s largest Boeing 777 operator and the airline will be first to receive the new 777X in 2020.
Michele van Akelijen, Managing Director of show organisers Tarsus F&E LLC Middle East, said, “The Dubai Airshow has always been the place for the industry to meet and do business, and to see new product launches and industry innovations. The first few hours of 2017 have shown demonstrated this to still be the case and we look forward to what the rest of the week will bring.”
More than 72,500 trade visitors and 1200 exhibitors are expected across the event’s five-day run, representing the entire spectrum of the aerospace industry.
