Perception That Boeing Reflects US Foreign Policy Could Hurt Sales In Gulf

It will be Europe versus the United Stated over snagging business orders from the Persian Gulf when aircraft manufacturers line up to show and tell in the upcoming Dubai Air Show.

An estimated 900 companies from 50 countries are expected to showcase their products in Dubai this week, as reported by ANN.

Emirates airlines could announce plans during the five-day exposition, which opens Today, to buy 100 long-haul carriers, choosing between Boeing's 787 Dreamliner and the A350 XWB Airbus, according to Agence France-Presse

Emirates, has ordered 55 of the Airbus A380 super jumbo, the world's largest civilian airliner.

The A380, which can carry between 525 and 853 passengers, is seen as a promising purchase for Emirates, who is looking at Dubai as its global base of operations.

Qatar Airways and the smaller Etihad Airways based in Abu Dhabi, have adopted similar plans.

Therefore making Emirates and Qatar Airways crucial to the future of Airbus, which has lately lost ground to Boeing.

According to the latest available figures, Boeing booked 893 orders to 854 for Airbus as of the end of September.

Analysts in a recent note said Boeing's activities were often seen as an extension of US foreign policy, viewed in the Gulf as pro-Israeli, an attitude that complicates matters for the US manufacturer in its approach to middle east clients.

By contrast, according to German author Gerald Braunberger in a book on the Airbus-Boeing rivalry, Airbus is frequently seen abroad as a French company and can take advantage of France's more balanced Middle East policies, according to AFP.

The fastest growth in air traffic between now and 2011 should occur in the Middle East, averaging 6.8 percent a year against 5.1 percent for the rest of the world, according to The International Air Transport Association (IATA).

Indian and Chinese companies, also operating in growing markets, could place big orders in Dubai, according to Morgan Stanley analyst Penelope Butcher. Latin American carriers are also anxious to expand their fleets.

Butcher said that US Companies may not show as well in Dubai, preferring to use the Franborough International Air Show in the UK, in 2008.

FMI: http://www.dubaiairshow.org/airshow07/site/home/index.php