Etihad Airways' Farnborough announcement of $21 billion in new Airbus and Boeing airliner orders is big news, but it's only the tip of a business iceberg that stands to turn the United Arab Emirates (UAE) into a world-class civil aviation service center.

Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies (ADAT)--the former Gulf Aircraft Maintenance Company--is building a 96,000-square-foot, $75-million hangar that will be able to accommodate five widebody and two narrowbody airliners simultaneously.

Upon its scheduled completion in 2010, the new hangar is expected to increase the company's maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) capacity by 35%, allowing ADAT to reach outward for new opportunities in the MRO sector.

The new hangar will be the company's sixth, and the second announced this year. Work is already underway on a dedicated single bay, line and light-maintenance hangar for Etihad Airways--the UAE's national carrier--as part of a five-year, $500-million MRO pact signed between the airline and the service provider last year.

In addition, ADAT parent Mubadala Development has unveiled plans to build one of the world's largest composite aerostructures manufacturing facilities. Slated for completion by 2010, the $500 million plant will initially build specialty parts and then evolve into primary structures work.

"Abu Dhabi is building an aerospace industry that provides a new hub linking East and West," said H.E. Khaldoon Al Mubarak, Mubadala's CEO.

Such activity has not gone unnoticed in Europe. Rolls-Royce and Mubadala have launched a joint venture that stands to make ADAT one of the world's premier service centers for the Rolls-Royce Trent engine family.

ADAT will now offer On-Wing Care, including a wide range of specialty maintenance services, from boroscoping to engine changes. The joint venture also plans to provide asset management services for engine system accessories.

European Aerospace group EADS and its Airbus subsidiary have formed their own agreement with Mubadala, mainly involving the company's new composites plant. Under the terms of the contract signed July 15 at Farnborough, the plant will initially provide spoilers and flap track fairings for the Airbus A330, A340, A350 and A380.

EADS also plans to help Mubadala develop an engineering center and research and development facilities in Abu Dhabi. According to EADS, this planned expansion will "accelerate ADAT's joining of Airbus' global MRO network."