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TIM ROBINSON FRAeS and BELLA RICHARDS provide a look at some of the most exciting news and highlights from the first day at the Dubai Air Show 2023.
This Dubai Air Show coverage brought to you in partnership with AMAC Aerospace
With large queues to enter the show in the morning, and big airline orders tipped, what were the highlights from Day One of the Dubai Air Show? Let’s find out.
Emirates reaffirms optimism in 777X
Emirates kicked off the week’s orders. (Emirates)
Kicking off the first day of the Dubai air show, several Middle Eastern airlines placed orders for various Boeing aircraft, and as expected, widebody jets were in high demand. Emirates Airlines, confirmed an order of 90 widebodies from Boeing worth $52bn – comprising 55 777-9 and 35 777-8 jets. The 777-9s are expected to begin deliveries from 2025, with the 777-8 landing in the hands of the airline from 2030. Meanwhile, the airline also topped up its previous order of 30 787 Dreamliners to 35. The UAE carrier has now converted 30 787-9s to 20 787-8 and 10 787-10 aircraft. Meanwhile, the airline also ordered an additional 202 GE 9X engines to power its 777X fleet, bringing its order backlog of the engine to 460 units.
Within the same announcement, flyDubai, a government-owned airline, placed its first ever widebody order comprising of 30 Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft. It marked the fourth Boeing aircraft order the Dubai-based airline has made since its entry into service in 2009. Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, who is the chairman of the company, said this order reflects a “new chapter” of flyDubai’s operations, as it hopes to serve more routes and complement its fleet of 737 narrowbodies.
21st Century Skyraider
The huge B350. (Tim Robinson/RAeS)
Over at Calidus Aerospace, the Abu-Dhabi-based OEM was showcasing its growing range of turboprop as well as new UAV, optimised for cloud-seeding missions to produce rain over the desert. While the company had two versions of the PT6-powered B250 turboprop – a basic trainer and an armed light attack variant, dominating the display was a 1:1 mock-up of the B350, a concept for a heavy attack aircraft, currently under development. This, which could be thought of as a ‘21st century Douglas Skyraider’ features 13 hardpoints, FBW and a turboprop engine in the same class as those that power ATRs.
South Korean rocket on static
Increasingly air shows have a large and growing space element. (Bella Richards/RAeS)
A reminder of the growth in ‘new space’ commercial space companies was this HANBIT-TLV launcher from South Korean start-up Innospace. The company is developing three rockets: The Hanbit-Nano, a two-stage small satellite launch vehicle that launches a 50kg payload into a 500km SSO; the Hanbit-Micro, a two-stage rocket that can launch 150kg into SSO; and the Hanbit-Mini which can launch 500kg into SSO. So far, the company has signed with three launch sites in Australia, Brazil, and Norway for its future missions. The HANBIT-TLV, its demonstrator rocket, successfully completed a test launch in March from Brazil’s Alcântara Space Center.
airBaltic bolsters A220 fleet
airBaltic is now Europe’s biggest A220 operator. (Bella Richards/RAeS)
While Airbus’s first day started slower than its US rival, Latvian carrier airBaltic initiated the European manufacturer’s Dubai deals with an order of 30 A220-300 jets. Further, the company agreed on purchase rights for 20 more of the type, with plans to operate a total of 100 by 2030. The airBaltic CEO, Martin Gauss, described the deal discussion as “tough… but good”, and claimed that the agreement took a long time to confirm.
Meanwhile in one of his first public appearances since becoming chief commercial officer of Airbus, Christian Sherer said at the briefing that the “market outlook is quite strong” for the A220 narrowbody jet in every region.
airBaltic has operated an all-A220-300 fleet since 2020 when it retired its last remaining Boeing 737-300. Gauss said at the time that reducing its fleet to one type minimises “the complexity and [benefits] from the additional efficiency provided by the aircraft.” The carrier is now the biggest A220-300 operator in Europe with this announcement.
Super manoeuvrable Eagle demos FBW upgrade
This is not your 1972 vintage F-15 (Tim Robinson/RAeS)
Widely tipped to be a stand-out display at Dubai this year, Boeing’s F-15QA for the Qatar Emirati Air Force, did not disappoint with a breathtaking display of agility for what is essentially a fighter originally designed in the pre-CAD era. With a clean airframe, no pylons and FAST conformal fuel tanks removed, the new fly-by-wire system gave this 51-year veteran an astonishing performance – that saw this big fighter keep its display within the air show display box, perform high AoA moves, square corners, tail slides and minimum radius turns. Asked by AEROSPACE what the AoA limit is on the F-15EX/QA, Boeing test pilot Matt Giese simply said: “There isn’t one”. While this aerial display demonstrates what a slick Eagle can do when fully unleashed, it also highlights the FBW’s role in allowing this F-15 to carry massive amounts of weaponry (for example, up to 12 AMRAAMs) in full-up ‘beast-mode’.
Mars rover driving school
Get your driving licence on Mars. (Tim Robinson/RAeS)
With the success of the Mars Hope mission still fresh in minds here in the UAE, the UAE Space Agency had provided an innovative, interactive display, with a rocky planet’s surface and several radio-controlled Mars Rovers for visitors to drive.
Boeing dominates day one civil orders
Turkey’s SunExpress added to the 737MAX orderbook. (Boeing)
On top of the huge order from Emirates and flydubai on the first day, Boeing announced several smaller orders throughout the day, boosting its total number of aircraft sold to over 200.
Its first order came from SunExpress, a company owned 50/50 by Germany’s Lufthansa Group and Turkey’s Turkish Airlines. The Turkey-based carrier, which operates several 737 jets, placed an order of up to 90 more of the type, including 28 737-8 and 17 737-10 models. The companies also inked an agreement for options for an additional 45 737 MAXs.
Meanwhile, Royal Jordanian placed an order of four 787-9 Dreamliners, and reconfirmed an order for two more of the type, bringing its order backlog of the widebody to six. The airline is looking to expand its widebody aircraft to service more of its long-haul routes and complement its strong narrowbody fleet.
Ending off the day was North African carrier Royal Air Maroc’s confirmed order of two more 787 Dreamliner, which were previously unidentified on Boeing’s orders and deliveries websites. Finally, EgyptAir announced it would lease 18 737-8 jets through Air Lease Corporation (ALC), set to join the fleet between 2025 and 2026 and remain with the company for up to 12 years.
Millennium momentum
During the briefing, Embraer revealed that a unnamed KC-390 customer will equip the aircraft with wing-mounted jammer/EW pods. (Tim Robinson/RAeS)
Over at Embraer, the Defence and Security division provided an update on the accelerating export sales and growing maturity of its KC-390 Millennium tanker-transport – which last month passed 10,000hours with a fleet of seven. Now in service with the Brazilian and Portuguese AF, the tactical airlifter is rapidly winning orders and commitments, including NATO nations, the Czech Republic, The Netherlands, Hungary and Austria. Meanwhile a partnership agreement with Sweden’s Saab, announced in April of this year, also bolsters its case for adoption by the Swedish AF as a Hercules replacement. With some nations looking at replacement options for hard-worked Lockheed Martin C-130J airlifters and rival designs such as the KAI MC-X and Airbus A200M still paper concepts, the KC-390 may have appeared at the perfect time.
‘Made in India’ drones debut at Dubai
The folding mR-20 cargo drone has been used in the Himalayas. (Tim Robinson/RAeS)
Making its Dubai Air Show debut in the advanced air mobility pavilion was this UAV company, Raphe, from India. Originally formed by a group of MIT/Georgia Tech graduates the company now designs and builds a range of multirotor drones for military and civil requirements. Of particular interest on the stand, is the six-rotor, 20kg payload mR-20 cargo drone which can be folded in half to be stacked together and transported via a truck.
Riyadh Air starts afresh on sustainability
The Aerospace 2050 forum saw high-level presentations on all aspects of sustainability (Bella Richards/RAeS)
On the opening day of Aerospace 2050, a Dubai air show conference focused on the aerospace sustainability ecosystem, COO of new Saudia Arabia airline Riyadh Air, Peter Bellew, said “starting from scratch” gives the company an edge on sustainability. In a keynote panel with several other industry leaders, Bellew said:
“When you start a new airline you’re starting from scratch, you have no legacy systems. What we’ve been able to do, is pick the very best of the different systems to run the airline, [from] our flight planning, to our day-to-day operations, and then to integrate that into the 787, and the digital suite that’s there. More importantly, to then map that right on to the training of the pilots… [which] we’ve integrated a sustainability program into.”
Bellew claimed that the company, which has already purchased over 70 Boeing 787s ahead of its planned entry into service in 2025, is set to announce future sustainability plans during the show. Further, Bellew said that the generation it will eventually hire and serve is already sustainability focused, and therefore going greener will be “native” to the company from the beginning. The COO added:
“We’ll have access to global expertise in Saudi Arabia, in the developing sustainable energy marketplace. For us…I want to move into hydrogen fuel cells, ground equipment, and using sustainable energy generation, and [through that] we prove to everybody else in the rest of the world, that that’s possible”. Bellew said the company has already begun talks with Ground Support Equipment (GSE) manufacturers to get the ball rolling.
In line with the company’s green ambitions, Riyadh signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with luxury electric car company, Lucid Motors on the first day of the show, alongside revealing its new livery. The companies will work together to transform the “future of sustainable transportation exploring the collaboration across co-marketing, commercial and operational streams for targeted guests and travellers”, according to the airline.
South Korean helicopters drop in
The two KAI helicopters are developments of Airbus designs. (Tim Robinson/RAeS)
In their first major international air show debut outside South Korea, Korean Aerospace Industries (KAI) had brought along both the KUH-1E (Korean Utility Helicopter) and Light Attack Helicopter (LAH) to take part in the show – with daily flying displays from the pair. In service with South Korea for a decade, the appearance of the export 1E version of the troop transport KUH and the attack LAH, represents a new focus on export markets for South Korea’s growing and highly capable aerospace sector.
Archer Midnight on display
The Archer Midnight in the AAM pavilion. Note electronic passenger seat greeting. (Tim Robinson/RAeS)
Over at the Advanced Air Mobility pavilion, Archer Aviation’s Midnight eVTOL was making its debut at the Dubai Air Show. The company plans to start air taxi services in the UAE in 2026 and also recently announced an agreement to partner with InterGlobe to bring eVTOL services to Delhi.
Rolls-Royce proves SAF has no barriers
All clear to fuel up with SAF (Rolls-Royce)
Engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce announced on day one of the air show that it had successfully completed compatibility testing of 100% SAF on its commercial engines – proving “there are no engine technology barriers” to the use of alternative fuels.
The company made a commitment in 2021 to demonstrate SAF’s compatibility with its legacy products, and recently completed ground and flight tests on a BR710 business jet engine in Canada. By replicating operating conditions, Rolls-Royce said that all tests confirmed the full use of SAF made no impact on the engine’s performance. The UK Transport Secretary, Mark Harper, said that, “today’s news demonstrates that Rolls Royce and the UK are global leaders in decarbonising transport, taking us one step closer to Jet Zero.”
Rolls-Royce also tested the SAF on several other engines, including the Trent 700, Trent 800, Trent 900, Trent 1000, Trent XWB-84, Trent XWB-97, Trent 7000, BR725, Pearl 700, Pearl 15, and Pearl 10X. The news comes just ahead of Virgin Atlantic’s upcoming transatlantic 787 Dreamliner flight that will run on 100% SAF, powered by Trent 1000 engines, set to take place at the end of November.
Lifting body eVTOL revealed
Rick Deckard’s Spinner from Blade Runner is here (Tim Robinson/RAeS)
Over at UK-Taiwanese-UAE Bellwether Industries, the company revealed the latest model of its Oryx three-seat ducted fan eVTOL. A half-scale demonstrator has already flown in Abu-Dhabi, where the company has its manufacturing base, with the firm saying that it expects to fly a full-scale piloted version later in 2024. Bellwether sees certain EMS missions for its Oryx, as well as an electric air racing version.
UAE MoD finalises L-15 trainer buy
Selection of a Chinese trainer by the UAE was a surprise. (Tim Robinson/RAeS)
The end of the first day saw news that the UAE MoD has placed some AED4.7bn of orders including ammunition, support and services. The contracts listed also included “AED 1.62 billion contract with Chinese company “CATIC” to procure an Air Show Aircraft and its Accessories,” – a veiled reference to the CATIC advanced trainer on static display at the show. First announced in February 2022, the UAE is planning to acquire 12 initially, with potential for an additional 36. The gold and black livery, meanwhile gives a clue to the types reported role, equipping the UAE AF Al-Fursan display team.
Sustainability goes beyond propulsion
Dronamics are set to integrate CAeS’ fuel cell system into its cargo drone. (Tim Robinson/RAeS)
Keeping up with the momentum of sustainable aircraft propulsion, Reaction Engines and Cranfield Aerospace Solutions (CAeS), a UK company developing hydrogen fuel cell propulsion, today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to further explore zero-emissions technology.
In 2021, Reaction Engines joined Cranfield’s Project Fresson consortium, focused on developing hydrogen fuel cell technology for aircraft propulsion, and the MoU is set to expand the partnership and seek more diverse applications across the aerospace ecosystem that can benefit from the powertrain design, including an agreement to provide unpiloted cargo operator Dronamics with the zero-carbon power system as an option.
And finally…
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Stay ahead of all the news!
Catch up with all the hot news (Tim Robinson/RAeS)
To follow all the news at Dubai don’t forget to bookmark www.aerosociety.com and follow the daily airshow news on the Insight blog. For those on X, follow @AeroSociety and use the hashtag #DAS23 or #DubaiAirShow.
Follow the AEROSPACE team for updates from the show
Editor-in-Chief Tim Robinson @RAeSTimR
Features Editor Bella Richards @RAeSBellaR
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