New Airbus Middle East subsidiary gathers momentum

He was previously vice president in charge of worldwide marketing and sales at Air France.

The subsidiary, led by Airbus Middle East president Habib Fekih, is headquartered at the Dubai Airport Free Zone and covers the GCC countries as well as Yemen, Egypt, Palestine, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the Maldives.

It is the fourth Airbus subsidiary, following ones established in the United States, China and Japan. Its creation underlines the region's global importance to Airbus as an aviation market.

Foaud Attar, a veteran in the aviation industry with over 20 years of experience heads all commercial activities, including marketing, sales, contracts and customer relations.

"With traffic predicted to be multiplied by four over the next 20 years, the Middle East is one of the fastest developing regions in the world", said Fekih. "We have a long-standing relationship with all airlines of the region and we are very proud of the role our products have played in the development of these fast growing carriers, being in most cases the cornerstone of their fleet expansion and modernisation. The trust and confidence these carriers have placed in Airbus leads us today to further expand our presence in the region.

"Our objective in doing so is to even better serve our valued customers and be in an even better position to give them full satisfaction, which is our top priority."