Ground support systems supplier sees growth in ME airports

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A Dubai-based company supplying ground support systems to Middle East airports has announced growth of almost 70 percent as a booming aviation industry turns the region into a hotspot for aviation suppliers worldwide.

Cavotec Middle East recorded an annual turnover of AED100 million in 2006 compared with AED60 million in 2005 and has set itself the target of a further 20 percent increase in the current year.

The company, based in the Jebel Ali Free Zone, is currently quadrupling the size of its offi ces and warehouses to cope with the rapidly increasing demand for its products and has doubled the size of its workforce over the past 18 months.

Cavotec Middle East is part of the Cavotec Group, a leading supplier of power supply equipment to a range of industries including aviation, oil and gas, mining and ports and maritime. The company set up its Dubai offi ce in 1993, expanding to Doha in 2006. It now plans to set up a further branch offi ce in Abu Dhabi this year followed by one in Saudi Arabia.

Its equipment supplies power and water to aircraft while parked on the tarmac or in hangars, along with preconditioned air to cool the cabin. Its aviation range also includes aircraft towbars and access stairs.

Cavotec recently installed 120 revolutionary pop-up units in the new Emirates Engineering hangar at Dubai International Airport. It also fi tted similar equipment specially designed for the A380 in Concourse 1 of Dubai Airport and is supplying power and air supply equipment for 27 gates at Concourse 2, currently under construction.

Cavotec is now keen to add Abu Dhabi International Airport to its client list and is working with the designers masterminding the US$6.8 billion expansion of the airport.

Thomas Widegren, regional manager and executive chairman of Cavotec Middle East, said: “The aviation industry in the region is expanding at a great rate with an increasing number of airports announcing development schemes. This presents tremendous business opportunities for Cavotec as we occupy a niche market supplying very specialised products.

“Abu Dhabi will be an important aviation hub of the future and we are keen to establish a presence there.”