$1.5bn worth of deals struck at aircraft show

FILM STAR: Egyptian star Yousef Mansour, right, pictured here with Sylvester Stallone, bought a jet at MEBA 2008.

A total of $1.5 billion worth of deals were completed during the Middle East Business Aviation 2008 (MEBA) show in Dubai, it has been announced.

Organisers of the three-day MEBA 2008 event said dozens of partnerships were struck between Western and Middle Eastern companies as the industry looked to buck the global economic downturn.

And one deal saw an Egyptian film star and producer buy a jet to fly him and his team to locations, it was revealed.

Ali Al Naqbi, founding chairman, Middle East Business Aviation Association (MEBAA), said: "After all the deals and announcements we have seen at MEBA 2008, we can be assured that the market is growing and that there is plenty of confidence out there.”

The gains made during this year’s event would provide a solid platform for 2010, Al Naqbi added.

In one of MEBA’s final announcements on Tuesday, Captain Saad Wallan of Wallan Aviation, confirmed sales of three Cessna Columbus, a Cessna Citation, a Cessna Caravan and two used Cessna CJs worth $90 million.

Trevor Esling, Cessna’s vice president, International Sales, Europe, Middle East and Africa, said his company had been targeting the lucrative Middle East market since the early 1990s.

“The Middle East is a growing market for us and our class of jets.”

And Egyptian film star and producer Yousef Mansour became the first Middle East customer of Project Phoenix and its distributor Action Aviation, when the martial arts expert closed a deal on a Phoenix CRJ which will be used to fly Mansour and his crews on location.

Alison Weller, director, F&E Aerospace, the company which organised MEBA 2008 on behalf of MEBAA, said the robust state of the business aviation market in the Middle East would help the industry grow in the future.

“What this event has demonstrated more than ever is that business aviation is a fast-moving industry and private charters are increasingly being considered as convenient and cost-effective alternatives for busy executives for whom time is money,” she said.

“The fact that so many major announcements have come out of MEBA 2008 and that so many companies are pursuing international tie-ups implies that firms have noted this increasing demand and are responding to it in a confident manner. That, we believe, is very good news.”

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