Aviation experts believe that the regional airline industry will continue its impressive growth over the next five years, indicating a bullish and confident attitude amongst the doom and gloom that engulfs the world, according to a survey conducted by Terrapinn, organizer of the 2nd Middle East Aviation Outlook Summit in Abu Dhabi. The survey, which was conducted amongst more than 400 top executives from the aviation industry from around the world and the Middle East, revealed that 90 percent of the respondents are still upbeat about the Middle East aviation industry. Fifty percent of the respondents stated that growth will continue due to government support, followed by geographic location (43.5 percent) the strength of regional economies (35.5 percent) and consumer's purchasing power 37 percent. Saudi Arabia has recently announced that it is going ahead with its commitments to develop the mega-projects already announced. These are estimated at $400 billion for the next five years, according to analysts. The UAE government announced back in October it had adopted a budget of AED42.2 billion (about $11.5 billion) for 2009. According to these experts, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE are likely to continue with a large proportion of their investment plans. These include mega-aviation infrastructure projects, airport expansions and new airports. Dubai is a case in point. The emirate has just awarded a AED4.9 billion ($1.3 billion) contract to build a new concourse at its international airport, the busiest hub in the Middle East. Work is to commence immediately with its completion scheduled by the end of April 2011. Hifazat Ahmad, general manager, Terrapinn Middle East, said: “There will be challenges ahead and the industry is already forecasting risks and opportunities in one of the most distressed global financial environments in decades.” The majority of respondents in the survey thought the biggest obstacle to M.E aviation growth in the next 12 months was volatile fuel prices 65 percent, followed by operational efficiency 25.4 percent, government policy 23.8 percent and recruitment of pilots 20.6 percent. About 53 percent of them felt that the biggest opportunity for airlines is passenger growth from Middle Eastern countries followed by the Subcontinent, Asia and then Europe, which is in line with the demographic make up of the region and in line with recent regulatory and route development efforts of regional players. __
