Helicopters fill the make-believe future skies in Disney World’s Tomorrowland, but in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates real rotorcraft are an integral part of the plans of high-end hotel and resort projects that are so huge they would likely boggle the fertile mind of Walt himself, if he were still alive. At the top of the heap is a multi-island resort called “The World” (see box), which its developer said has a potential market for no less than 200 helicopters.
But the helicopter market in the United Arab Emirates also includes other sectors. “Both owned and chartered executive transport models will be needed to support The World, but the Emirates is a growth market in many sectors,” Abdulla Abulhoul, managing director of exhibition organizer Mediac, told AIN. “Public service and heavy-lifting machines have their place as well. For example, we have identified a requirement for wrecked automobiles to be moved from our highways after accidents and for skyscrapers to be ‘topped off’ with air conditioners and communications equipment.”
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