Egyptair signed a deal with Airbus at the Dubai Airshow on Tuesday to buy 10 A350-900s for delivery between 2025 and 2027. The sides inked the order for the widebody airliners during a ceremony attended by Egyptair chairman and CEO Yehia Zakaria and Airbus chief commercial officer Christian Scherer.

"Egyptair is a key partner of Airbus in the Middle East and Africa,” said Zakaria. “We take immense pride in this partnership aimed at furthering the aviation industry. Our focus lies in the enhancement of our fleet to embrace some of the most contemporary aircraft available.”

Business is surging for Rolls-Royce as airlines step up their widebody fleet expansions and replacements, Ewen McDonald, chief customer officer of civil aviation for the engine maker, told AIN during the Dubai Airshow.

“I've been in the business for 30 years and I've never seen the amount of demand now for widebody,” McDonald said. “There was a high demand for narrowbody 12 months ago, but the market is really hot for widebody.”

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI) has announced an agreement with the UAE’s Edge Group for the integration of smart weapons onto the MQ-9B SkyGuardian remotely-piloted aircraft (RPA). The UAE already operates GA-ASI’s unarmed Predator XP and hopes to acquire the larger and weapons-capable MQ-9B.

Despite being approved by the U.S. State Department in November 2020 to receive up to 18 SkyGuardians together with associated systems and weapons, the estimated $2.97 billion deal was frozen as part of the cancellation of the UAE’s F-35 fighter purchase. Efforts to resurrect the MQ-9B sale continue.

The Boeing 777-300ERSF “Big Twin,” a passenger-to-freighter (P2F) conversion of the 777-300ER engineered by Israel Aerospace Industries’ Bedek Aviation Group, is making its first public appearance at the Dubai Airshow. The aircraft on show is the prototype conversion and had previously operated on regular passenger duties with Emirates Airline before being withdrawn from use in February 2020.

The aircraft flew to Tel Aviv for the P2F conversion in 2021 and took to the air again in March this year. After a lay-up, it resumed test-flying last month. One of 20 aircraft on order for lessor AerCap, the Big Twin is destined for service with U.S. cargo carrier Kalitta Air.

Emirates plans to invest $950 million to build a one-million-square-meter engineering facility at the Dubai World Central site, adding another piece to the growing maintenance, repair, and overhaul complex at the emirate’s second airport. Designed to support the airline's fleet and operating requirements into the 2040s, the new facility could be large enough to offer spare capacity to other carriers.

"This significant investment signals our confidence in the future growth of Emirates and the aviation sector,” said HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, chairman and chief executive of Emirates Airline and Group. “The new facility will enable Emirates to be entirely self-sufficient when it comes to maintenance, repairs, overhaul, and all engineering requirements for our aircraft fleet.