Dubai Airshow closes with $8.8m Emirates CST contract

Under the contract, which was awarded to Dubai's Spatial Composite Solutions, Spatial will design a total of 13CSTs with Emirates' specifications for various Airbus and Boeing configurations, including the A380 superjumbo, and install them at the new Emirates Aviation Crew Training College in Dubai.

The order ensured the show, which ran at the Airport Expo Dubai for five days, closed as it began, on an international high.

Daily since the opening of the show - the 10th in the Dubai Airshow series and the largest ever - record orders were achieved across a vast array of aerospace products, culminating in an on-site disclosed contracts value in excess of $100bn - the highest ever for any global aviation event.

And as the show closed, key industry players rushed to ensure that they were secure for the 2009 event with many increasing the size of their stands and chalets - with a large number doubling their floor space commitment.

'Over 5,000 square metres of floor space has been contracted by more than 20 companies from throughout North America and the Middle East,' explained Alison Weller, Director Aerospace, Fairs & Exhibitions (F&E), which organises the show in conjunction with Dubai's Civil Aviation Authority and in collaboration with the UAE Armed Forces.

Leading the early day booking surge was Abu Dhabi's Mubadala Development Company (Mubadala), which has reserved more than 800 square metres of exhibition space and a 500 square metre chalet area for Dubai 2009, which will run at a new purpose-built facility at Dubai World Central, the huge urban aviation community being built in Jebel Ali, 30 kilometres north of Dubai city centre.

'Dubai Airshow 2007 was Mubadala's international aerospace exhibition debut but the company will now become a familiar name at all the major aviation forums worldwide where we will demonstrate our broad spectrum of capabilities and world-class partnerships,' said Homaid Al Shemmari, Director, Aerospace & Technology Unit, Mubadala.

Other major industry names which have confirmed for Dubai Airshow 2009 include Boeing, Cessna, Eclipse, KBR, Hawker, Crane and Pratt & Whitney.

The 2007 edition of the Dubai Airshow, which is now the world's third largest international aerospace exhibition, featured 850 companies from 50 countries, 11 national pavilions and over 140 aircraft.

The new Dubai Airshow site will raise the benchmark for world-class aerospace show facilities. It will cover 425,000 square metres - double the size of Airport Expo Dubai - with 42,000 square metres of exhibition space. It will have 130 chalets, car parking for 4,000 cars in 2009 and rising to 7,000 for subsequent events.

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