Dubai Airshow Day 3 - Joining the rotary club

Orders flowed throughout the day with airlines such as Jazeera, Afrijet, Ibom and Air Tanzania putting pen to paper. The big one was Indian start-up low-cost carrier Akasa Air ordering 72 737 Maxes from Boeing.

In our show wrap, we highlighted the helicopter and defence sectors, with Chloe Greenbank reporting on an Airbus Helicopters ACH145 with an interior upholstered for the first time in vegan Ultraleather. The helicopter theme continued with Mark Pilling finding out that electric motorbikes can now be carried by the UH-60L Black Hawks of the UAE’s Special Aviation Command.

Our defence editor Jon Lake commented on the strong showing by Russian Helicopters for its defence helicopters as it scents as opportunity for more sales in this region.

Finally, GCC editor Jill Stockbridge raised a glass with Emirates to mark the announcement that the carrier is going to fit a premium economy product to its fleet of Airbus A380s and Boeing 777s.