AIN Media Group started life covering air shows and conventions more than half a century ago at the NBAA business aviation trade show in 1972, and they remain at the core of its aviation news coverage. Thirty years have passed since the company became the first Western publisher to produce on-site editions at the 1993 Dubai Airshow. At the time, the United Arab Emirates Air Force published its own daily newspaper, but only in Arabic.
Here, AIN co-founder and chairman emeritus Wilson Leach reflects on how he got the operation started in Dubai.
Purchasing the printing and organizing our publishing efforts in Dubai in the early ’90s was the experience of a lifetime for me. The printing company that helped us produce those first issues—Emirates Printing Press—to this day continues to do so, but out of a much larger, modern printing facility. The truth is the shop that printed our first issues in the early 1990s literally had floors made of sand.
In those early days there were only two or three first-rate hotels in the area, all located around the Dubai Creek. The Hyatt was located out on the Corniche, and the Intercontinental served as the mainstay hotel. The Dubai Creek was the central focus of business and tourism.
The beauty of the early Dubai Airshows was their close proximity to the main airport, where the entire event took place. Dubai International Airport (DXB) was literally a five-minute ride from the main hotels in the area by the Creek in Deira. The show was extremely user-friendly in those days, and easy to navigate between the hotels and the DXB site.
Slowly but surely the expansion of Dubai accelerated into the first quarter of the 21st century. Today, the emirate is one of the most hustling, bustling, exciting cities on the globe. Perhaps for some people it has become too commercial, but Dubai retains its special charm and exotic aspect.
Back in the day, AIN’s long-time publisher John McCarthy, now retired, and I would land in Dubai and go right to work scouring the hotels and dealing with the printer.
It always entailed visiting each hotel. To do things properly we went to a lone hotel in Jebel Ali that one of our mainstay clients used. We each would start falling asleep on the drive down this desolate single-lane road, full of sand and potholes, now known Sheik Zayed Road. It was a true adventure.
As a point of reference, Jebel Ali is now one of the main suburbs of Dubai, as it continues its sprawling development toward Abu Dhabi. Of course, today this is close to the new site at Dubai World Central where the show has been held for the past decade.
Having published regularly at both the Dubai Airshow (in odd-numbered years) and then the MEBAA event (even-numbered years), we know our way around Dubai. But more importantly, we have made true friendships with many of the local people, after at first feeling somewhat daunted being a Western publisher in this part of the world.
One of the most meaningful experiences of my life was leading our delegation for the Dubai Airshow held in November of 2001. I believe AIN served as the only show daily that year, taking a skeleton staff to the Middle East less than 60 days after the horrible attacks in New York City and Washington on 9/11.
The Dubai Airshow organizers decided the show would go on. We took two or three key team members—Charles Alcock being one and my son, Scott Leach, being another. It was another experience of a lifetime that I hope never needs repeating.
All that said, traveling to Dubai was my favorite stop on the airshow circuit, including exotic venues like Paris, Singapore, and Shanghai. However, I would be less than honest if I didn’t share that I long for—in fact pine for—those early days of life in Dubai when it was such a fascinating mosaic of East meeting West.
Of course, the almost unbridled growth of the area with the development of five- and six-star hotels all the way along the coast to Abu Dhabi has given Dubai more of a “Las Vegas” feel than ever. But as the saying goes, “c'est la vie.”
I always enjoy representing AIN in Dubai, and this year’s event will be no exception.