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Aircraft manufacturer Airbus is hoping to boost the global distribution of its spare parts with a state-of-the-art warehousing facility in Dubai Airport Free Zone.

When the sun comes up on Saturday 2nd August, the gargantuan Airbus A380 will have completed the first of many voyages from Dubai to New York, marking a new phase in the Middle East's aviation industry.

But if anything goes wrong with the 300 miles of wiring in the double-decker 'superjumbo', Emirates will not have to twiddle its thumbs while parts arrive via sea freight from Hamburg. Instead, Airbus has set up a new material and logistics centre in Dubai Airport Free Zone to speedily convey spare parts to local customers.

"Basically we opened this facility in order to have greater proximity to our customers," says Joerg Helmerichs, director for material, logistics and supplies at Airbus Middle East. "It will also enable us to reduce transportation time for the huge A380 spare sub-assemblies.

Before, these parts would have been delivered from Hamburg, Frankfurt and occasionally also from Singapore - on exception also from Washington. It depends where the parts are available. Now it's a lot faster and more reasonable in terms of transportation costs; consequently our aircraft operating costs are optimised. The reaction time due to the proximity is much better and will improve our clients' aircraft utilisation."

He added that although delivery to clients in the Middle East will be from the logistics base in Dubai, orders will still be processed centrally through the head office in Hamburg.

On 28th July, Emirates will receive the first A380, which will begin scheduled flights just four days later on 1st August. However, it is not the only firm to order the jet - other regional companies with outstanding orders include Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways.

The aviation business in the Middle East is a booming industry - over the next 20 years, passenger travel is expected to rise by 6%, with cargo to increase by 5%, according to Airbus - and the new facility has already attracted interest from local operators.

"Before we opened two weeks ago we had already received orders from regional customers," Helmerichs says.

Airbus is now delivering items to its Gulf customers, especially to Qatar Airways, Etihad, Emirates and Air Arabia.

"Regional customers are using us more and more, enabling our brand to be recognised," explains Helmerichs confidently.

"They certainly know we are here. Our clients have to make some administrative attachments with shipping information in order to ensure a smooth process. But this has been done step by step and the process is getting better and better," he adds.

The A380 is available both in passenger and freighter models. The A380-800, the passenger model, is the largest passenger jet on the market, while the freighter version, the A380-800F, has a listed payload capacity exceeded only by the mammoth Antonov An-225.

The actual construction of the A380 is done in an assembly hall in Toulouse, with the various parts being sourced from around the world.

The process begins in Hamburg where an Airbus roll-on/roll-off (RoRo) ship picks up the front and rear sections of the fuselage before departing for the UK. Here, the massive wings manufactured in Bristol and North Wales are transported by barge to Mostyn docks, where the ship adds them to its cargo.

At the Saint-Nazaire port, in France, the fuselage sections from Hamburg are traded for larger, assembled sections, which the ship then unloads in Bordeaux.

From there, the freighter then collects the belly and tail sections from Cadiz, Spain, before returning to Bordeaux to drop these off. The full quota of A380 parts are then transported by barge to Langon, and then by road to Toulouse.

After assembly, the aircraft are flown to Hamburg, where they are furnished and painted.

This process has required the laying of several new roads and canals have even been dug in order to accommodate the larger/heavier parts.

Airbus has said that it is able to produce four A380s a month with the current supply chain model, but rather than play a role in the construction of the aircraft itself, the Dubai warehouse will mainly stock specific parts of the aircraft required in case of damage.

The facility, which opened at the beginning of June, will, at full capacity, house more than 5000 different parts, with 43,000 in stock at its launch.

"Predominantly we will stock here A380 parts - spare parts which need to be available as soon as possible such as wing-tips and doors," explains Helmerichs.

"These are actually the parts that are often subject to potential damage while the aircraft is being serviced on the ground. Additionally, we will also have the related tools to remove and reinstall those parts, plus we also have located here those parts that we consider to be high-runners - those pieces required most frequently on a yearly basis and which are generated by the demand from our regional clients."

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