The real value of the Dubai show was in dollars and cents—certainly as far as the civil aviation market was concerned—with both commercial airline and business aviation sectors capturing the headlines.

There was a moment of disbelief when Alison Weller, the vivacious blonde director of aerospace for F&E, organisers of the Dubai Air Show, suggested that Dubai could become the number one air show in the world. Despite the nods of approval and agreement from Weller’s bosses, F&E Chairman Virginia Kern and the show’s host, Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed al Maktoum, President of Dubai’s Civil Aviation Department and Chairman of Emirates Airline, the audience who packed the media centre could barely mask its cynicism. Admittedly, Dubai has laid claim to being the biggest and the best of just about everything else it set its mind to—but the air show? One week and orders worth more than $100 billion (Rs 3,93,100 crore) later, the sceptics were eating their words. Dubai may be the world’s third largest in terms of exhibitors and space but it is now the world’s richest, and there will be few that will wager against it taking the top spot when the show moves to the new purpose-built site at Dubai World Central, soon to be Maktoum International, the world’s largest airport.

This was the tenth edition of the Dubai extravaganza. What started as a small regional event with fewer than 200 exhibitors has grown beyond belief. This final event at the current Airport Expo featured more than 850 exhibitors seen by 45,421 industry-linked visitors from 131 countries. The turnout included 32 civil delegations from 30 countries and 82 military delegations from 48 countries looking at more than 150 aircraft on display.

But these are just statistics. The real value of the Dubai show was in dollars and cents—certainly as far as the civil aviation market was concerned—with both commercial airline and business aviation sectors capturing the headlines.

The action took off within minutes of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, officially opening the show. And it just didn’t stop. “The wide spectrum of business achieved was simply breathtaking,” said Weller. “It covered all aspects of civil aviation but also considerably impacted the military sector.”