A senior trade delegation from Bahrain will attend this year’s Farnborough Airshow with the expectation of signing more than $1 billion in contracts. Among those agreements, 12 companies have confirmed their interest in participating in the 2018 Bahrain International Airshow (BIAS).
Kamal bin Ahmed Mohammed, Bahrain minister of transportation and telecommunications, is heading the delegation, accompanied by Gulf Air CEO Maher Salman Al Musallam and Bahrain Airport Company CEO Mohammed Al Binfalah. Gulf Air, the kingdom’s national carrier, expects to sign further agreements related to restructured aircraft orders that were announced in January at BIAS 2016. These are valued at $7.6 billion and comprise 45 aircraft from Boeing and Airbus.
Among companies that are expected to sign contracts to participate in BIAS 2018 are: BAE Systems, Qatar Airways, Rolls-Royce, DHL, Serco, Boeing, Kallman, Lockheed Martin and cargo charter operator Texel Air. Bahrain’s transportation ministry will sign a $2.5 million contract appointing Farnborough International to organize the next two editions of the BIAS, extending a partnership that started with the first Bahrain airshow in 2010.
Organizers have changed the date of the biennial airshow, which is held at Sakhir Air Base, from January this year to November 14-16, 2018. With the change, the Middle East will have alternating airshows in Dubai and Bahrain, similar to the Paris Air Show and Farnborough schedules.
“The date change was extremely well received by participants when we announced it at the close of BIAS 2016,” said Amanda Stainer, Farnborough International Limited commercial director (FIL holds the contract to run the Bahrain Airshow). “The show has grown from strength to strength since the first show in 2010, and while still in its infancy compared to other international airshows, the date change will give the event a real opportunity to expand.”
Led by Gulf Air orders, the airshow recorded $9 billion in contracts this year, which was more than triple the figure recorded in 2014. Some 135 companies and 30,000 trade and public visitors participated. Stainer said the BIAS 2018 event is already 30 percent reserved for exhibitors.