MEBAA Show 2022, Aviation industry players sign new deals

The MEBAA Show 2022 continued into its second day at Dubai Airshow site (DWC), with key players from across the business aviation industry using the event as a platform to make significant announcements and signings.

Ali Ahmed Alnaqbi, Founding and Executive Chairman of MEBAA – the Middle East & North Africa Business Aviation Association, comments: “The MEBAA Show is providing a platform for the global business aviation industry to come together to build on partnerships and form new connections that will drive the sector forward. Across the first two days we have already seen a series of key announcements and new signings as our community takes advantage of the huge growth that’s predicted for the sector. Organizations are looking at how they can incorporate new aircraft, technology and innovation into their current operations. We are proud of what the show has achieved so far and look forward to our final day tomorrow.”

Day two saw a series of key announcements and signings. RoyalJet and Honeywell signed a letter of intent to extend the current Ka-band connectivity services, Saudia Private Aviation (SPA) signed an MoU with Redstar, and there was a press conference where VPorts announced a partnership with UAE General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) and the Mohammed bin Rashid Aerospace Hub (MBRAH) at Dubai South to establish the world’s first AAM integrator world centre in Dubai. Saudia Aerospace Engineering Industries (SAEI) also signed four agreements during the second day, with Airbus Helicopter Arabia, Alpha Star Aviation Services, Ubisense and The Helicopter Company (THC).

These followed on from a series of day one announcements, where Airbus Corporate Jets (ACJ) signed a partnership agreement with Citadel Completions LLC to enter the ACJ Services Centre Network, the MBRAH signed four agreements with Empire Aviation Group, Athena Security, Khaleej Aerospace Industries and Airline Support Baltic, and there was the official contract signing of the DC Aviation G-OPS joint venture for the opening of a brand new FBO at Nice Airport, among others.

Day two of the BizAv Talks conference included seven presentations and panel discussions under today’s theme ‘Tomorrow’s Customer – Next-Generation’. With future aviation, digitalisation, block chain, AI and crypto-based payments key focuses for this year’s MEBAA Show, sessions included a joint presentation, ‘Stay ahead of the curve with cryptocurrencies’, from Robert Plhak, CEO of VOO, and Gernot Winter, CEO of AVINOC. This focused on how readiness and adaptability in this quickly evolving technological landscape is crucial in today’s marketplace, assessing the purchasing methods of tomorrow’s customers and benefits to providing flexible payment methods.

Winter said: “It’s not just about cryptocurrency, it’s about tokenisation as a whole, and the real goal is to connect the real world – the business aviation world – with the crypto world.” He continued by sharing examples of how tokenisation and blockchain technology can be used within the future of the aviation industry, not just through payment, but also loyalty programmes, aircraft ownership, security for airlines and airports, MRO solutions, ticketing, identity management and much more.

Co-founders of Odys Aviation, James Dorris and Axel Radermacher, also presented at BizAv Talks with their session on ‘Assessing early adopters of the eVTOL revolutions’, which focussed on how eVTOLs will provide a fast alternative to congested city travel and asses how businesses can win over and retain high-net-worth individuals.

Continuing the theme of technology and future aviation, Alberto Carlos Pereira, CEO & Partner at Tupan Aircraft, said: “The MEBAA show gives us the unique opportunity to combine the vision of our long-range and high-speed drone cargo transportation solution with the UAE’s Strategic Vision for 2071. Together we can develop and test disruptive and innovative solutions for point-to-point cargo services. I am looking forward to further highly interesting discussions that the professional environment of MEBAA Show makes possible.”

Sustainability has also remained a key theme throughout the ninth edition of the show – and a huge focus for the business aviation sector as a whole. This year MEBAA Show has worked with Air bp as the carbon offsetting sponsor for the show. A spokesperson from the bp target neutral team commented: “With support from Air bp, the MEBAA Show 2022 organizers have been looking at ways to reduce carbon emissions from the show and have shared this information with Air bp. As the carbon offsetting sponsor for MEBAA Show 2022 Air bp will offset any remaining calculated carbon emissions via bp’s carbon management business, bp target neutral.

“Emissions will be offset by purchasing and retiring offset credits from bp target neutral’s offset portfolio. This offset credit purchase in turn will help compensate for the emissions associated with the event space, promotional materials (with the exception of travel or attendee overnight stays).”