Mubadala to fly high at Farnborough

Mubadala Development, a strategic investment company owned by the Abu Dhabi Government, plans to announce a string of aerospace deals at the Farnborough International Airshow in England next week, a top official says. The announcements are expected to help further Mubadala's stated ambitions of developing an aerospace industry in the emirate, including the local manufacture of a business jet, by 2018 as part of Abu Dhabi's economic diversification campaign.

"We have a few announcements planned," said Homaid al Shemmari, the executive director of Mubadala Aerospace. In recent years, the Abu Dhabi firm has used the summer air shows to announce strategic alliances with global aerospace players such as Airbus and General Electric, and Mr al Shemmari said the significance of this summer's announcements will be "even greater" than before. "It is not about the dollar value, but the capabilities we are managing to get into our network," he said.

A major focus for the firm at Farnborough will be highlighting its plans to become one of the top three providers of aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services worldwide, he said. Mubadala owns two maintenance firms, Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies and the Zurich-based SR Technics. "We want to emphasise our commercial MRO ambitions and also our regional military MRO ambitions," he said. "Some of the things we are going to announce really solidify our ambitions and our capabilities, and what we plan to accomplish."

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