Episode 47: Optimism as Africa and Middle East sees positive growth for 2021

The final aerospace and defence podcast for the Middle East and Africa for this year closes on a positive note.Kenya’s Aberdair Aviation which has been delivering ACMI charter operations for almost two decades is expanding its business with a new base in the Democratic Republic of Congo.The airline’s CEO Adrian Wilcox talks to Alan Peaford about his fleet plans and the strategy of multi-AOCs from Kenya, Ghana and now Kinshasa with Tanzania and Uganda in the pipeline.Steve Nichols takes a look at JSSI, the company that brought power-by-the-hour to the business aviation world and talks to Pascale Barhouch the new head of business development based in DubaiDemand for engine maintenance saw MTU opening a new office in Dubai just ahead of the March lockdown. MRO editor, Chuck Grieve asks Sami Ben-Kraiem, vice-president marketing and sales, for MTU in Middle East & Southeast Asia whether they regretted the timing of the investment – and discovers that there is strong demand for narrowbody services in the region and MTU expects double digit growth for CFM56 and V2500 shop visits.The news round-up for the region includes plans for a fleet of unmanned freighters to serve Saudi Arabia with hopes for manufacturing to move to the region.