You can’t host a bake sale in Dubai – it’s impossible make any sales. Heck, even a motor show won’t do – that stuff is child’s play. If you really want to get Dubai’s elite frothing at the mouth and reaching for their wallets, you gotta host an airshow.

In this year’s second bi-annual event, all of the gulf region’s major airlines gathered and prepared to make some of the biggest deals in aviation history.

But even the likes of Etihad, Emirates and Qatar airways could not have expected the massive total sales bill of $192., billion, which outstripped the airshow’s previous order record, set  in 2007.

The region’s three big dogs – Etihad, Emirates and Qatar Airways – placed orders for 393 new commercial planes in total. Boeing and Airbus shared the spoils, with high demand for the 777X, Boeing’s next-generation version of the existing 777.

Etihad set the standard when they signed a $25,2 billion deal for 56 new wide-bodied Boeing aircrafts, including 25 777X planes, 17 of the biggest 777-9X variants and eight of the 777-8X version.

Etihad CEO James Hogan, said:

This order enables us to build upon our achievements, using the next generation of aircraft to support our next generation of development. This order is for 2018 out to 2025/2030. The traffic is there.

Hogan didn’t stop there, as he went on to drop another $26,9 billion on 87 Airbus jets, including 50 A350 aircraft, the twin-aisle competitor of the 777X currently in development.

Anyone interested in a pun about “high-flyers”? No one?

[Source : CNN]