The Dubai Air Show 2009 will show a 10 per cent growth in the number of exhibitors and trade visitors as well as a 30 per cent increase in regional exhibitors, according to the organisers.

"Last air show we had 860 exhibitors and 45,000 trade visitors. We forecast a 10 per cent growth on those figures for the Dubai Air Show 2009, which is to be held between November 15 and 19. So despite the economic climate, we are still growing at the Dubai Air Show," Allison Weller, Director of Fair & Exhibitors Aerospace, told Emirates Business.

She said the big Middle East exhibitors at the Dubai Air Show would be Mubadala, Dubai Airports, Dubai Aerospace Entreprise, Abu Dhabi Airport Company, Dubai World Central and some smaller companies in the region. "Since the Dubai Air Show first started we relied on international companies to be our exhibitors. Now it is different – 30 per cent of the exhibitors are from the Middle East, representing aerospace companies and airport cities."

This year, the air show organisers are forecasting about 900 exhibitors and 50,000 visitors based on current bookings and prospective bookings until the show date in November. Weller said: "In the terms of other growth and forecast, we are building a fourth hall, the Emirates Hall, to accommodate that growth. This will give us an additional 7,000 square metres of exhibition space, taking the entire site to overall 325,513 sqm."

The new space is sponsored by Emirates, which will be the key exhibitor in the hall. Other large exhibitors would be EADS, Lufthansa and Dubai Airports. Weller said: "We have increased the chalets by 11 units – another increase to cope with the extra inquires and bookings."

When asked about the impact of the financial crisis on the air show, Weller said: "I wish I could say that it hadn't [impacted the show] but unfortunately we are not immune. We have not seen as many customers come back as we had in the past. A lot of companies, because of the economic situation, have possibly reduced their participation. So when the numbers are there, they may not have come as large as they once had. They have not put on all the additionals such as the sponsorships and the other expenditure on the show. We have taken our cancellations but the show is still quite young. We are 20 years old this year."

She said: "This will be the 11th show and we are still in quite a steep growth curve in one of the fastest-growing aviation markets in the world. But we are not growing as fast and as big as we originally forecast because the recession hit us. But it is not catastrophic; we still have a big air show and it is still going to be bigger than the last one. We have 150 new customers to the region so far. I expect that number to increase by mid-November. Basically we are very fortunate that here in the Middle East aviation is a growing market."

Recent shows have witnessed a growth in indigenous exhibitors. "We get an indigenous exhibitor growth from all the GCC countries and the surrounding region and we also attract a lot of international exhibitors as they start to look to the Middle East as a growth path for their market. They might be quite successful in their own markets and now they are looking overseas, and of course the Middle East is a big attraction," said Weller.

The major manufacturers – Airbus and Boeing – will be there, as will business aviation manufacturers such as Gulfstream and Embraer. The new exhibitor this year would be Eurofighter, which will display a full-scale replica of the static park of the jet. Airbus will show a full-scale cabin replica of the A350, the new wide-body aircraft.

Yet another first would be the full-scale mock up of Eurocopter EC 175, a 16-seat civilian helicopter. Aerion will exhibit a mock-up of the supersonic business jet. Weller said: "It is still in the development stage, but it is interesting, that we could move business aviation into the supersonic stage."

Other major exhibitors include Lufthansa, Lockheed Martin from the military side, and Bombardier from Canada. "We are bringing exhibitors from 39 countries and we expect to growth this number before the show.

"At the Paris Air Show in July, most of the major orders were made by Middle East carriers. This bodes well for the Dubai Air Show in November. At the 2007 show, we closed with a $155 billion (Dh569bn) order book, a world record. I'm hoping we will break that record this year."

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