United Arab Emirates Aerospace and Aviation Opportunities

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has seven international airports. The UAE’s desire to be an aviation hub brings numerous opportunities for U.S. businesses in the aerospace and aviation sectors.

The Emirate of Dubai aims to become the “aviation capital of the world.”  Dubai International Airport (DXB) welcomed 87 million passengers in 2023. Recently, Dubai announced the US$35 billion Dubai World Central (DWC) airport expansion project. The airport will be the center of the 140 sq.km Dubai South Aerotropolis, with 5 parallel runways – 4.5 km each. When completed, the airport will have 400+ aircraft gates and the capacity to handle 100 wide-body aircraft (Code F and E) at any given time. The airport will be designed to handle 260 million passengers and 12 million tons of cargo, annually. All DXB airport operations are expected to be transferred to DWC airport around 2033.

At Abu Dhabi’s Zayed International Airport (AUH), passenger traffic reached about 23 million in 2023. The $3 billion Midfield Terminal which was opened at the end of 2023, occupies around eight million square feet and is expected to increase the airport’s capacity to 45 million passengers, annually.

At the beginning of 2024, Sharjah Airport started a $327 million airport terminal expansion, which is expected to be completed by 2026. When completed, the airport capacity will reach 20 million passengers, annually, up from 15.3 million in 2023.

Opportunities:

•    Design, construction, and project management services.
•    Ground support equipment such as specialized airport trucks, buses, tractors, loaders, Ground Power Unit (GPU), Antenna Coupling Unit (ACU), Air Start Unit (ASU), towbars, towbarless tractors, and Fixed-Based Operations (FBO), etc.
•    Airfield management systems.
•    Air traffic management systems.
•    Passenger boarding bridges.
•    Maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) equipment.
•    Baggage handling and process automation systems.
•    Safety and security systems including baggage check and walk-through security systems.

Note: To bid on any of these opportunities, suppliers, or their local partners, should be registered with the relevant project management authority such as Dubai Aviation Engineering Projects or the Sharjah Department of Civil Aviation.

Learn more at events in the UAE:

•    Middle East Business Aviation Association (MEBAA) Show, December 10–12, 2024
•    Maintenance, Repair, and Operations (MRO) Middle East, February 10-11, 2025
•    The Dubai Air Show, November 17-21, 2025

For more information, please contact Office.AbuDhabi@trade.gov.