Our Transportation Business Line took the initiative and attended the first ever Kingdom Airports, Aviation, and Logistics Exhibition (KAALE) which was held in the Jeddah Center for Forums and Events.
The event was under the patronage of HRH Prince Fahd Bin Abdullah Bin Mohammed Al Saud, president of the General Authority of Civil Aviation and was organized by Arabian Reach, Media Sultan, and Gulf Fair Exhibition Organizers.
The exhibition is specifically designed for those who wish to learn about and capitalize on the opportunities emerging in the aviation, airports and logistics sector in Saudi Arabia, the fastest growing and already largest economy in the Arab world. There were 103 exhibitors and more than 5000 visitors.
Last May 1 and 2, the first ever Kingdom Airports, Aviation, and Logistics Exhibition (KAALE) was held in the Jeddah Center for Forums and Events.
Among all the major consulting firms who attended, ZFP was the only one with a booth. According to Mr. Basim Hasaballah and Mr. Richard Fuentes, their aim was to promote ourservices and to get involved, not only with our client, but also to other companies who we may be working with in future projects.
The event's patron, GACA, is our client for two airport projects that we are currently handling: Qassim Airport and Al-Jouf Airport. According to the event's introduction in the website, the exhibition is "specifically designed for those who wish to learn about and capitalize on the opportunities emerging in the aviation, airports and logistics sector in Saudi Arabia, the fastest growing and already largest economy in the Arab world. KAALE 2012 will provide a excellent powerful platform for exhibitors and visitors to identify projects, develop contacts with senior decision makers and achieve what all companies want - to secure new contracts."
There will truly be a lot of opportunities, especially with the Kingdom's plans of investing heavily in new airports in the country as well as expanding existing airports, and our Transportation Business Line aims to take advantage of these opportunities. There are 27 existing airports in Saudi Arabia with four of them being International airports. GACA revealed its plans for expanding and building 28 airports in the next two decades.
The event was a huge success. According to a survey in the post-event report, 94% of the exhibitors said that their objectives were met and responses to the other questions in the survey were generally positive. Thirty eight (38) percent of the attendees were from outside the Kingdom and only three (3) percent among all the companies were consultancy firms.
The event wasn't just the exhibition alone. A conference was held alongside the exhibit and VIPs from different companies delivered their speeches during those couple of days.There were at least 300 attendees in the conference and eighty seven (87) percent of the delegates were satisfied with the presentations, according to the survey.
KAALE will be held as an annual event and the next one is scheduled tentatively on April 29 – May 1 in Riyadh. The event had a great start and we should be proud that our Transportation Business Line took the initiative to attend and promote our services.