The government of Dubai has ordered the creation of major permanent showgrounds, beside the gulf sheikdom's international airport, as a new home for the already established Dubai air show. "Our government is expressing in the most concrete terms its commitment and determination to guarantee the future of this market-leading international event," says the president of the Dubai DCA, Sheik Ahmed Al Maktoum.

"The site will be ready by September 1999 and we are confident it will receive a tremendous response from the international aviation and aerospace industries," he added.

Two fully air-conditioned exhibition halls are being built to increase previous stand space accommodation by more than one third. Chalets are being entirely refurbished with 64 two-story and 20 single-story units planned. They will be permanent structures. Access for the disabled is being planned throughout the entire site, which will be landscaped using indigenous plant species. This is itself a big challenge, given Dubai's desert setting, but is one to which the sheikdom has risen before in its golf courses and racecourse.

The site will open in November 1999 with the next show, called Dubai 2000. Organizers claim the facilities "will surpass those at main show rivals, le Bourget, Farnborough and Singapore."

By Bob Rodwell