Middle East Airport Projects 2009: providing leading market intelligence on region's ongoing airport projects

The region is undergoing an unprecedented airport expansion to cope with rising passenger numbers which increased 7% last year, despite the economic downturn, after 18.1% growth in 2007.

Current major projects in the area include the $8.2bn Al Maktoum International Airport in Dubai, the $6.8bn expansion of Abu Dhabi International airport, the new $5.5bn Doha International Airport and the $11.3bn upgrade of King Abdulaziz, Airport in Saudi Arabia.

Edmund O'Sullivan, Chairman for MEED Events commented, "The Middle East is an aggressively expanding airport market. In the last three years, Middle Eastern carriers have ordered some 1,300 new aircraft, including options, in deals worth $178bn. Airbus recently estimated that the Middle East and Africa region needs to invest $124bn in 1,016 new aircrafts to meet annual passenger growth of 7.1%. The conference will focus on key topics affecting the industry and leading representatives from such regional Government departments such as Departments of Planning, Civil Aviation and Transportation regulation will be in attendance."

O'Sullivan continued, "At MEED we know how important it is for businesses to have top level information on the challenges and opportunities facing an industry. As leaders in the air-transport management and construction business with a focus on current and planned Middle East Airport projects, MEED's Middle East Airport Projects conference in Dubai will give delegates first-hand updates on all the key projects in the MENA region including lessons learnt from international projects, a review of the ICAO certification compliance, a report on the latest security and safety trends for airport design and an analysis of the privatisation efforts in airport management/operatorship."

Speakers at the conference include Dr Majdi Sabri, Regional Vice President MENA, IATA, who will be presenting a realistic overview of the global crisis effect on the MENA air transport industry and His Excellency Imad Fakhoury, CEO of Jordan's Aqaba Development Corporation. Other speakers who will be delivering groundbreaking addresses on how to successfully plan, finance, build, design, manage and operate an airport include Habib Fekih, President, Airbus Middle East; Osama Alali, CEO, Bahrain Aiport Company; Rudy Vercelli, CEO, ADAC; Saudi Arabia GACA's Dr Al Zahrani; Adel Ali, CEO, Air Arabia and Paul Griffiths, CEO, Dubai Airports, who will be describing how Dubai is defining a new vision for next generation airports in the Middle East.

Also speaking at the forthcoming conference is Rosemarie S Andolino, Executive Director, Chicago O'Hare Modernisation Program who said, "Sustainability is set to be a key feature of all future successful airport programmes. It is highly important that developers understand the challenges of drafting sound and feasible designs for airport rehabilitation and that sustainability or green requirement is integrated at an early stage in any airport modernization planning."

Conference delegates at Middle East Airport Projects 2009, being held on the 22nd-23rd February 2009 at the Park Hyatt Hotel in Dubai, will have the opportunity to review the region-specific airport projects, learn how to meet efficiency challenges in airport building design, understand how speeding the pace of air hub constructions will help service the region's economic growth, measure MENA countries preparedness for future airport project expansions and explore the latest updates in sustainable airport design

The conference offers attendees the ideal platform to gain maximum exposure to the widest range of senior industry executives from the regional and international airport and aviation industry. As is the hallmark of MEED's industry leading events, the conference will gather an impressive list of key industry players, prominent experts and practitioners from Airports management companies; Ground Handlers; Landside Suppliers; Architecture, Planning & Design Consultancies; Construction Companies; Airlines; Systems suppliers; Trade Associations; Airside suppliers and Banks to share their knowledge and network with their peers.

Sponsored by Pacific Controls and NACO the two day conference will also feature two post event masterclasses being held on the 24th February led by PricewaterhouseCoopers and MyBrand Consultants.