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JOHN BRYERS: ADAT’s CEO will be attending the summit.

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ADAC’s Khalifa Al Mazrouei is giving a speech at the event.

The rapid growth of the Middle East airline sector is changing the shape of world aviation.

The Middle East's aviation industry is tipped to grow by nearly 7% per annum until 2010, while doubling every 10 years, making it a market the rest of the world can no longer ignore.

The Middle East airline and airports' rapid growth are changing the shape of world aviation. Understanding the drivers and strategic evolution of this fast-moving market is crucial for all players across the industry.

To recognise this growth, business media company Terrappin will join forces with the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) to stage the region's first Middle East Aviation Outlook Summit from 27-28 February 2008 in Abu Dhabi.

This event will address the Middle East's growing influence on global aviation and tourism, with several high-level speaker programmes and an accompanying exhibition planned. Abu Dhabi Airports Company and Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority are the host sponsors of the summit, while UAE airline Etihad Airways is the official carrier.

CAPA's recently published Middle East Aviation Outlook Report, states that airlines and airports in the region have the potential to grow at previously unimaginable levels.

It intends to highlight this issue during the summit, which will provide networking and discussion forums for industry figures to get together.

According to CAPA, the forum will also help delegates understand the implications of these developments, which could rewrite the world aviation system. While several contrasts exist in the Middle East, converging aviation goals are also apparent.

There is a great contrast between the relative policy conservatism of the longer established aviation administrations and some newer, rapidly expanding, Gulf airlines and entities.

However, the gap between these differences is closing as liberalisation and privatisation takes hold. Meanwhile, some jurisdictions such as Dubai have assumed a global hub role, while others including Qatar and Abu Dhabi are about to make similar claims.

The Gulf's ‘near-perfect' geographic position as an air travel hub has been enhanced enormously in the past five years by aviation liberalisation, which allows intermediate ports to become valuable crossroad hubs. It also enables the introduction of ultra long-haul aircraft, permitting non-stop service to and from almost any point across the world.

Together, these features should help boost the region's major airlines and airports to the forefront of the "Next Generation ("Next-Gen") Aviation" evolution. In this environment, growth rates can be achieved at levels which were previously impossible.

A strong future is backed up by the Middle East's standing as the fastest growing region for passengers and cargo in 2006.

Full year growth for the respective categories were 15.4% and 16.1%, according to the International Air transport Association (IATA).

The Middle East is dominated by five major airports handling more than 10 million passengers, according to Airports Council International (ACI) data, with Dubai the pre-eminent hub. Some 28.8 million passengers - 22% of the regional total - travelled through the Dubai International Airport in 2006.

In total, scheduled airlines increased overall capacity growth to 142.3 million seats in 2006 - a 12.2% year-on-year increase. The region once again handily eclipsed global capacity growth, which climbed 3.4% to a record 3.3 billion seats two years ago.

The intra-Middle East market is about three-quarters the size of the market to/from the Middle East. (By contrast, the intra-Asian market is six times larger than the market to/from Asia.) Financial details are not abundantly available in the Middle East, reflecting the predominant role played by government in the region's aviation sector.

According to the Arab Air Carriers Organisation (AACO), the available financial statements of 10 member airlines revealed a US$94 million operating loss in 2005, despite an 18.2% increase in revenue to $5 billion. Reflecting its different regional grouping, IATA released a new industry financial outlook in December, which forecast a US$5.6 billion global industry profit in 2007.

The report also said the figure would drop to $5.0 billion in 2008. Giovanni Bisignani, IATA's director general and CEO, said: "The challenges get tougher in 2008.

"A favourable economic environment and effective efficiency measures helped mitigate the impact of high fuel prices and underpinned profitability improvements in 2007. With the credit crunch, that is changing.

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