The agreement was confirmed at a private signing ceremony attended by His Highness Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, chairman, Dubai Aviation City Corporation (the parent organization of Dubai South); Khalifa Al Zaffin, executive chairman, Dubai Aviation City Corporation; Dennis Muilenburg, Boeing president and CEO; Raymond Conner, president and CEO, Boeing Commercial Airplanes; Marc Allen, president, Boeing global; and Bernard Dunn, president, Boeing Middle East, North Africa and Turkey.
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Boeing expanded its growth plans with the Middle East’s aerospace industry at the 2015 Dubai Airshow with strong customer and partnership announcements.
He described the A350-1000 as “a very competitive aircraft” and bluntly dismissed Boeing’s 777-8X, an upgraded version of the popular 777 jet that sits closest to the A350-1000 in size.
While orders might not come close to those seen in 2013, UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) – otherwise known as drones – will feature at the show for the first time.
“Due to the large number of previous orders, the total show order tally this year will be much less than prior years”.
But this year’s show might have a “record set for lack of sales”, Moores said.
The Dubai Air Show was first launched in 1986 under the name of “Arab Air”.
But although the European firm was on target to sell more A380s this year, talks could slip into 2016, he said. Boeing supporters have questioned the quality of Airbus’s order backlog for the A320neo, compared with the competing 737 MAX, saying it relies too heavily on unproven airlines.
At Boeing, orders as of 4 November were only 498, though John Wojick, sales chief of the airliner division, said he was confident the planemaker will bring the figure up in coming weeks.
Speaking at the Dubai air show, Boeing sales and business development executives Tom Bell and Jeff Kohler, who would not name Kuwait specifically, said the company’s prospective “Middle East customer” is frustrated with the approvals process. “We do not expect it” to place major orders.
The order, which was already on Boeing’s books with the buyer listed as undisclosed, is comprised entirely of re-engined Max8 variants, Mumbai-based Jet said at a press conference with Boeing at the Gulf expo Monday.
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This year, as airlines have started to consider the emergence of Chinese aircraft manufacturers, Bregier said both Airbus and Boeing were upping their games in terms of innovation. The airline has invested in building this Academy to address the growing global need for pilots, and recently signed an agreement with Cirrus and Embraer to order 27 new aircraft for cadet training.
