The Dubai Airshow has grown significantly since the very modest first show in 1989 and is now one of the preeminent events on the aviation calendar.  120,000 visitors walked through the doors of this year’s event which is closed to the public to create a global aviation marketplace for the 1200 exhibitors in attendance.  Industry giants like Lockheed Martin, Airbus, Dassault and the United Aircraft Corporation (Sukhoi) were some of the companies in attendance representing 148 countries.  There were 13 countries that attended for the first time, including Israeli companies Israel Aerospace Industries and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems that showcased a variety of unmanned aerial vehicles.

I had never been to Dubai before and made a point to fly to the country on an Emirates Airbus A380 to start my journey off with the appropriate flavour.  While the flight was quite full, meaning hundreds of people joining me in the lower level economy seating, I was quite happy to have flown on the world’s largest airliner with the airline that operates the largest fleet of these impressive aircraft.