The biennial Dubai Air Show opened yesterday with airlines poised to make major aircraft purchases after rebounding from the groundings of the COVID-19 pandemic, even as Israel’s war with Hamas clouds regional security.
That conflict, as well as Russia’s war on Ukraine, are likely to influence the five-day show at Al Maktoum International Airport at Dubai World Central. It is the city-state’s second airfield after Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest for international travel and the home base for the long-haul carrier Emirates.
While commercial aviation takes much of the attention, arms manufacturers also have exhibitions at the show. Two major Israeli firms — Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd and Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd (IAI) had been slated to participate.
Photo: Bloomberg
However, the IAI stand, bearing the slogan “Where Courage Meets Technology,” was roped off and empty yesterday morning as people poured into the show.
A stand for Rafael handed out coffee, although there were no salespeople. The company also sponsored a meeting of air force commanders yesterday at a luxury Dubai hotel, highlighting the balancing act being struck by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) amid anger in the Arab world over the Israel-Hamas war.
The UAE, a federation of seven sheikhdoms, established diplomatic relations with Israel in 2020.
The firm Russian Helicopters has staff on hand after attending the Abu Dhabi arms fair earlier this year, despite being sanctioned over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. ROSCOSMOS, the Russian state space company, is also at the show.
Global aviation is booming after the COVID-19 pandemic saw worldwide lockdowns and aircraft grounded, particularly at Al Maktoum Airport, which served for months as a parking lot for Emirates’ double-decker Airbus SE 380s.
Air traffic is now at 97 percent of pre-COVID-19 levels, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said. Middle Eastern airlines, which fly key east-west routes, saw a 26.6 percent increase in September traffic compared with a year earlier, IATA said.
Boeing is closing in on a major order for its 777X wide-body model from Emirates, people familiar with the discussions said, in what would provide an important boost to a program that is years behind schedule.
Already the biggest buyer of the 777X, Emirates is poised to make a high double-digit order of the aircraft, it said. As part of the deal, regional affiliate FlyDubai could take some of Emirate’s 787 Dreamliner earmarked orders, the company said.
EgyptAir is also set to receive 18 Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft, adding more narrow-body jets to the state-owned airline’s fleet, people familiar with the matter said. The airline is to receive the aircraft between 2025 and 2026, a company spokesperson said.
Turkish Airlines might also make a record-shattering purchase of 355 Airbus aircraft, including 250 A321neo aircraft, state-run Anadolu news agency said.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
STEADY: Prices are to rebound following inventory rebuilding demand, TrendForce said, with Samsung Electronics Co further trimming capacity as it slashes DDR4 lines The contract prices of DRAM chips are to rise by as much as 18 percent sequentially this quarter — the first price upticks in about eight quarters — driven mainly by inventory rebuilding demand for DRAM chips used in mobile devices and PCs, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) projected yesterday. The price rebound is led by a quarterly increase of mobile DRAM chips, which are to climb between 13 percent and 18 percent quarter-on-quarter this quarter, which has not been seen since the fourth quarter of 2021, the Taipei-based market researcher predicted. Likewise, the price of mainstream PC DDR4 DRAM is expected to bounce
CHINA NOT A FRIEND: ‘Newsflash: Democracy is good for your businesses,’ US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said as she gave a speech at a national defense forum US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo on Saturday urged lawmakers, Silicon Valley and US allies to stop China from getting semiconductors and cutting-edge technologies key to national security. Speaking at an annual national defense forum in Simi Valley, California, Raimondo called Beijing “the biggest threat we’ve ever had” and stressed that “China is not our friend.” The world’s top two economies are locked in a fierce commercial and geopolitical rivalry, in which her department plays a leading role. In October, Raimondo unveiled a series of restrictions on the export of advanced chips to China, including those used in the development of artificial intelligence
LONG ROAD AHEAD: The US is somewhere between one and two decades away from achieving the Biden administration’s goal to achieve chip autonomy, Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), who runs the semiconductor industry’s most valuable company, said the US is as much as 20 years away from breaking its dependence on overseas chipmaking. Huang, speaking at the New York Times’ DealBook conference in New York on Wednesday, explained how his company’s products rely on myriad components that come from different parts of the world — not just Taiwan, where the most important elements are manufactured. “We are somewhere between a decade and two decades away from supply chain independence,” he said. “It’s not a really practical thing for a decade or two.” The outlook suggests
A Hong Kong court postponed a court hearing on troubled Chinese property developer Evergrande Group’s (恆大集團) winding-up petition scheduled for yesterday until Jan. 29. Evergrande is trying to win support from its creditors for a plan to restructure more than US$300 billion in debt to stave off liquidation. The company’s lawyer told the court it was requesting an adjournment to “refine” its new debt restructuring plan. The Hong Kong High Court has postponed the hearing over Evergrande’s potential liquidation several times. Judge Linda Chan (陳靜芬) had said in October that yesterday’s hearing would be the last before a decision is handed down. Chan
RSS