Dubai’s private aviation show MEBAA postponed to February 2021

The Middle East and North Africa Business Aviation Association (MEBAA) has announced that its aviation show will now take place from February 22-24, 2021, at the DWC Dubai airshow site.

The exhibition was slated to take place from December 8-10 and has been postponed due to the prevailing Covid-19 conditions, it said in a statement.

“We understand this news will be disappointing to the business aviation industry; however, we believe that in postponing the show to February 2021 we will be better positioned to deliver a quality event for everyone,” said Ali Alnaqbi, founder and executive chairman of MEBAA.

“We have been closely monitoring the Covid-19 spread over the past few weeks as well as developments on travel restrictions from governments around the world. After very careful consideration of the situation and taking into account invaluable feedback from our exhibitors and stakeholders we believe the decision to postpone the event is in the best interests of the health and safety of our exhibitors, visitors, contractors and staff,” added Alnaqbi.

Read: How the private aviation sector in the Middle East is responding to the Covid-19 crisis

Attendees include business aircraft manufacturers, avionics firms, completion centers, charter companies and aircraft resellers.

The MEBAA show will feature thought-leadership seminars, networking opportunities for high-end travel operators and roundtable sessions with key stakeholders within the business aviation field.

The next edition of event will also showcase an all-new Luxury Travel Operators segment which will allow participants to network with regional and global high-end travel operators.

Pre-pandemic estimates suggested that there are approximately 800 private jets registered in the MENA region.

On behalf of approximately 270 MEBAA members, Alnaqbi has already written letters petitioning governments across the region for assistance to the industry to weather the pandemic which has affected the private aviation sector.