The fourth edition of Egypt's airshow and exhibition (AVEX) marked a significant improvement in many aspects but had negatives, says Amirah Ibrahim Along with his top aides, President Hosni Mubarak inaugurated the fourth edition of AVEX air show and Expo at Sharm El-Sheikh airport last Sunday. Days before AVEX was scheduled to take off, it had been set to get a presidential opening. Mubarak toured the area and the inside pavilions where 74 Egyptian, Arab and foreign companies working in the field of aviation exhibited their products. Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif, Defence Minister Hussein Tantawi, along with ministers of Petroleum, Information and International Cooperation joined the president. Aviation Minister Ahmed Shafiq briefed Mubarak on the exhibition while touring the inside and airside areas riding the airport buggy. "The Egyptian Exhibition has been grown and expanded from 53 to 74 exhibitors. This is 40 per cent growth," Shafiq stated. The event, which is endorsed by the Egyptian Ministry of Civil Aviation, is designed for companies within the small and midsize airplane industry and is focussed on deal making and experimental marketing. The exhibition featured a wide range of aircraft customisations, from exteriors to luxurious interiors fitted to meet individual tastes. The number of displayed aircraft increased from 30 in 2008 to 45 aircraft, manufactured by Airbus, Gulf Stream, Bombardier, Cessna and Bell Helicopters. VIPs enjoyed touring the static area onboard airport buggies. Podium displays with a summary of the aircraft features were present beside each parked aircraft for the first time along with red carpets leading into the jets and helicopters at the Aircraft Showcase Park. A floor plan has been circulated for the first time also to help guide the visitors through the displayed small and medium aircraft. The air show and expo took place over four days, with the first two days dedicated to trade visitors, and the remaining two days for the public. The main activities for the show included aerobatics displays by the Polish Red Bull team, the Jordanian Flying Bulls team and the Egyptian Silver Stars team. Two 10-15 minute performances per team were scheduled per day. More to entertain over 10,000 public visitors and tourists was offered this year, with go-kart races, bungee jumping where youth got seconds of freefall from 130 feet. Kids had a free space to enjoy playing inside the paint ball while their parents were touring the exhibition. The French organisers, naseba, which organised 2008 event, were weak on media coordination as in 2008. Again, this year's event lacked the attendance of world prominent names, with the exception of the attendance of US ambassador to Egypt Margaret Scobey who inaugurated the US Boeing pavilion at the exhibition. Observers see Scobey's attendance as giving support to Boeing's contribution to the event against its rival Airbus. This year's event however surprised observers with many bright sides, bringing the superjumpo A380 to Egypt to mark the first North African country to welcome A380 at its airports. A number of contracts have been signed during the exhibition pushing the event forward in international status. Russia's aircraft manufacturing industry had a remarkable participation at the Egyptian exhibition to market its new civil aircraft in the Middle East and Africa. "The United Aircraft Corporation is for the first time represented at the air show in Sharm El-Sheikh together with Cairo Aviation of Egyptian businessman Ibrahim Kamel," Director- General of Civil Aviation of the United Aircraft Corporation Yuri Grudinin, said at Sharm El-Sheikh. "This is still the only company that uses planes on the Middle East market," Grudinin stated. According to Grudinin, the Middle East and African markets are the most promising markets for its aircraft Tu-204. "They say this plane works well with the infrastructure of the aviation market of both passenger and cargo traffic. Therefore we express the intention to develop aviation projects in the region in the future and for this purpose we are jointly marketing an An-148 plane that is the most optimal project for the infrastructure of the local market," Grudinin said. "At present, the corporation developed an English language version airliner that will be demonstrated in the Middle East, including Egypt. The construction of the airliner is close to completion and we plan to show it at one of the events for local aviation businesses in the first quarter of 2011." For the second time, the Egyptian air show hosted a business seminar, the Africa Unity Summit, concerning the civil aviation industry in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Adding to AVEX expansion, the fourth edition of the event included holding MENA summit where air transport experts, officials, and partners met in an attempt to unite the key African aviation decision makers. "Africa has an air traffic growth rate of 5.7 per cent, with 14.2 per cent of the world's population. Yet, it only has 4.5 per cent of world air traffic," stated Hussein Massoud, EgyptAir chairman and CEO. "It is sad to see that 70 per cent of Africa's long haul flights are carried by non-African airlines," he added. EgyptAir has been busy expanding its network in Africa adding two new routes this year to expand its African network into 18 routes. Unfortunately, the Aviation Unity Summit could not attain its goals, simply because decision makers were too busy to attend the summit. Only the speakers and a very few attendants came to the summit. Media were not invited. However, the agenda included many hot topical panels; with four main topics: the Africa and Middle East aviation outlook, re- opening European routes to Africa, attracting and utilising new aviation financing and the transformation and imperatives of aviation training and the MRO function. According to the summit agenda, the list of speakers included many prominent figures in the field of air transport such as Hassan M Hassan, the chairman of the Egyptian Aviation Academy, Alan Bardoe, head of Airbus Marketing Communications, Bashir Abdel-Hadi, chief executive of Jordan Aircraft Maintenance company, Samuel Loum, director of African Export-Import Bank and Khader Mattar, regional vice-president of Canadian Bombardier.
