Dubai Airshow opens, highly anticipated event

The Patrouille acrobatique de France performing at the Dubai Airshow 2019. AFP

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Opening this Sunday in Dubai of the 17th edition of the airshow, the Dubai Airshow.

It will be held from November 14 to 18 and is expected to welcome more than 80,000 visitors.

The event is eagerly awaited by all players in the sector, still weakened by the cessation of its activity for several months.  

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After 2020, a catastrophic year that saw hundreds of planes grounded around the world due to travel restrictions, the sector is slowly recovering.

International flights were the most affected, with a drop in traffic of 69% compared to minus 24% for domestic flights, compared to 2019, before the start of the pandemic.

According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the decline in demand for tickets in 2020 was almost 66% compared to 2019.

This year, global airlines are still expected to suffer a cumulative loss of nearly $ 52 billion.

In September, air traffic was still down 53% from its level in September 2019.

Professionals are counting on the gradual reopening of borders to relaunch activity, however traffic should only return to its pre-crisis level between 2023 and 2025. It therefore seems difficult in this context to wait for large orders of aircraft. .

►

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Airbus expects fleet replacement

The Covid-19 pandemic will not have a long-term impact on the need for new aircraft, estimated at 39,000 aircraft over the next 20 years, according to Airbus, which is counting on the replacement of current fleets by planes emitting less of CO2. A strong argument for the airline sector under pressure to reduce its environmental footprint and which has committed by 2050 to “

 net zero emissions 

” of CO2.

By 2040, air transport is expected to experience annual growth of 3.9% per year.

" 

The middle classes, which are the most likely to take the plane, will see their number increase by two billion people, or 63% of the world population 

", justifies the commercial director of the European aircraft manufacturer Christian Scherer in a press release.

Growth will be the fastest in Asia, the Chinese domestic market, already strategic for manufacturers, should triple.

The need is estimated at 39,020 new passenger and cargo planes by 2040, bringing the global fleet to 46,720 aircraft, Airbus said ahead of the Dubai Airshow opening Sunday.

Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, the

Dubai Airshow

has been the only major international aerospace show to be held in person this year.

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  • United Arab Emirates

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  • Coronavirus