Airport Show to move to biennial after May 2012 event

The Airport Show is to become biennial after the 12th edition of the event which will take place May 22-24 next year.

Organisers, Reed Exhibitions say the event promises to be a ground-breaking platform for the Airport Build & Supply community from Europe, Asia and Middle East.

In a statement today the company described the aviation sector in the Middle East region as being a key driver of the economical growth "therefore countries throughout the region are spending billions of dollars to expand their airports in an effort to ensure these facilities have the capacity to meet the future needs of the rapidly expanding sector with investments to hit $90bn," Reed said.

Middle East carriers have grown from 5% of global traffic to 11% over the past decade, and are expected to achieve the fastest growth rate this year at 9.4%. This growth has stimulated a continued flow of investments for the development and expansion of airport projects in the region. .

Airport Show was launched in 2001 and the combined exhibition and conference has grown consistently to become the largest Airport Build, Supply, Operations, Security, Technology and Services event in the Middle East. The 2011 edition hosted 160 international and national exhibitors and more than AED 500 million of contracts were on offer in 2011.

As well as going to an every two-year cycle, Airport Show will be moving to a new venue for 2014.