More than 160 aircraft on display at Dubai Airshow

More than 65,000 visitors are expected at the biggest Dubai Airshow yet, which kicks off Sunday on the site of Al Maktoum Airport.

For the next five days the city’s residents we be treated to an overhead spectacle of displays from aircraft that will include the F22 fighter jet, B1 bomber and Eurofighter.

A record US$206 billion in aircraft orders were signed during the 2013 edition of the event which runs every two years.

Visitors will include heads of state, royal families and the leaders of some of the world’s biggest aeronautical companies according to show managing director Michele van Akelijen.

The trade visitor show also has a viewing area with entertainment for members of the public who want to get up to close to some of the world’s most advanced civilian and military aircraft.

Al Fursan, the UAE aerobatic team will be performing with Italian counterparts Frecce Tricolori.

“We have the Skyview area dedicated to the public who would like to come and see the displays from a 5,000 seater grandstand,” she said.

The Dubai Airshow has doubled in size since 2001 and now competes with the industry’s other two big biennial aviation exhibitions that rotate between Farnborough and Paris.

More than 160 aircraft will be on display during the week, including double decker A380s operated by Emirates and Qatar Airways while flydubai will bring its 737-800.

The defence industry accounts for about half of the displays at the show and will include a Chinook helicopter from Boeing and a French Air Force Rafale fighter.