In his speech, Mr Hogan will discuss the future of the aviation industry in the Middle East and the region's enormous diversity and potential. He will also speak of the opportunities the Middle East presents for global business and leisure, as well as the aviation sector in particular.

Mr Hogan will say that the Middle East and North Africa was the fastest growing region for air passenger and cargo traffic in 2006 and this growth is set to continue at 7% p/a until 2011. This is the highest growth of any region in the world and compares to a global average of just over 5%.

He will add that progressive deregulation and liberalisation is also opening up further opportunities for traffic growth and regional civil aviation authorities are extremely active in this area.

The Middle East is an ideal location for the aviation industry as it is placed between East and West, according to Mr Hogan, and there are few places better placed to launch a new global airline.

During the speech, Mr Hogan will also discuss the considerable investment being made by the aviation industry in the region both in terms of aircraft and airport infrastructure.

The Etihad CEO will explain that Middle East carriers announced orders worth USD50 billion at the 2007 Paris Airshow, followed by further orders of some 140 aircraft at the Dubai Airshow, deals worth more than USD100 billion.

Mr Hogan will state that ten airports across the Middle East are also investing USD37 billion in new airport capacity, which will provide for an additional 318 million passengers p/a by 2012.

According to Mr Hogan, diversification into industry, tourism, real estate, financial services and logistics powered the aviation sector's double digit capacity and traffic growth in the last four years.

Mr Hogan will discuss the growth of Abu Dhabi as a global capital. Currently, it enjoys a market share of just 2.3% in world travel and tourism with about a million visitors a year. But there are ambitious and realistic targets to increase this to more than three million visitors a year by 2015.

He will state that the Emirate enjoys strong intra-region traffic, natural hubs and the development of destinations that can compete on the global leisure market. This will be a major driver of growth that in the UAE alone is forecasted to be 5% year-on-year to 2016.

Mr Hogan will also explain Etihad's expansion plans at its Abu Dhabi base where the airport will witness a second runway and two new terminals, one exclusively dedicated to Etihad Airways due to open later this year. This is part of a $6.8bn investment to boost capacity three fold from current levels to 20 million passengers a year by 2011.

(c) Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation. Date posted: 27-Feb-08