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Richard Dawson joined Etihad last year to develop its IT systems.

Richard Dawson focused on aviation industry growth and developing airline computer systems at ARINC's Converge Forum 08.

The Middle East is redefining the aviation industry. If you look at volumes of traffic, aircraft orders and promotional activities around the world it is fairly obvious this region is becoming a key player in the aviation industry, and it is happening at pace.

Abu Dhabi, Doha and particularly Dubai are serious players in regional and world aviation.

The financial results that Emirates have posted recently are unbelievable. They have achieved an enormous amount in a short space of time. But we could be facing difficult times.

Look at what is happening in North America; the airlines are posting huge losses, partly because of the fuel prices, and it will be interesting to see what happens across the rest of the industry as a result of those losses.

The prospect of some consolidation is needed in North America. Europe seems to be stronger, but some of the low-cost carriers are suffering because of the rising fuel prices. We are going to go through a fairly bloody patch. Whether that affects this region remains to be seen.

So, from a factual perspective, this area is central to the rest of the world, giving it an advantage. The environment is going through a period of liberalisation and the civil aviation authorities are more active than ever.

These airlines are not working as independent profit units, they are intrinsic parts of the countries in which they exist, so Emirates is part of the Dubai infrastructure and Etihad Airways works with the Abu Dhabi government.

They work hand in glove and this gives airlines an advantage to do deals with other parts of the world and work with governments to drive de-regulation.

Another advantage is with aircraft technology such as A380s, B787s and A350s. These aircraft are fuel efficient, so we can fly for further at a lower cost.

Combine the geographical benefits and aircraft technology advancements and you have a natural hub. We are pulling lots of traffic out of Europe into this region; something like 70% of Etihad's traffic is through Europe, so connectivity becomes a real issue.

The passenger can transit through this hub very effectively and we want to get everything to a two hour connect time. Because of the region's transit capabilities, we don't see Emirates and Qatar Airways as competitors; the volume is not in this part of the world but in other parts, so we are pulling people through this region.

Passenger growth averaged 14% in 2007, which is reflected in our aircraft orders. In 2007, Middle East airlines placed orders worth $50 billion at the Paris Airshow and then another $100 billion at the Dubai Airshow. Half the global aircraft orders were from the Middle East last year.

That's absolutely astronomical. In terms of infrastructure, 10 airports invested $37 billion in increasing capacity, which will result in 380 million passengers by 2012.

In Abu Dhabi we are building a second runway and launching an investment programme, which culminates in a terminal five times the size of T5 at London Heathrow.

People in this region are very smart and not just funding this investment because they have pots of money; they are doing it for a reason.

They want to develop this region as a natural hub and are diversifying from the oil economy into other activities. They are building a future.

We have a capacity increasing three-fold to 20 million by 2011 in Abu Dhabi. Is it sustainable? Our competitors would say not but we think it is and the indicators would prove this to be an accurate prediction.

So, gross domestic product growth in this region is between 5-6%, with India and China experiencing similar growth. People talk a lot about this growth, but in fact this region is growing at a similar rate.

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