The Dubai Airshow November 17, 2023

Imagine my surprised after I had booked our tickets to Dubai as Air Canada had advertised a new route to find out there was going to be an Air Show on in Dubai the week we were going to be visiting! I have been to the Abbotsford Airshows we my dad several times and seen the airshow in the sky at Seattle however this was a REAL Airshow! A HUGE tradeshow hall and the static display had all the types of planes that we fly on today – Dreamliner’s (787), Airbus 380’s (2). 777x (still in testing phase) and others! Now that is a static display I have not seen before! The reason why I wanted to go to the Airshow though was on the Friday they were having a Diversity and Inclusion set of seminars and as I volunteer at YVR and provide feedback on the subject to them as an active customer of YVR in terms of departures and arrivals, I thought it would be interesting to see what other airports had to say on the subject.

The actual Dubai Airshow location was near the other airport in Dubai and that meant a Metro ride and then taking what I was told was an accessible bus provided by the Airshow to its customers, to the Airshow location. So having received information from the hotel on how to take the metro we set out! The metro was not far away from the hotel and when we got there a lady helped us with tickets. I had been told there are 3 types of cars on the metro – women, general and business class. We selected general and went up to the platform. It was a beautiful and clean metro station and no one could fall onto the tracks as there were glass doors that prevented you from doing so! From the display and what we were told we were looking for a specific train headed to the airport and NOT to Expo 2020. So we watched all these stuffed to the gills trains go by saying Expo 2020 and then realized that perhaps our information was wrong and the map we were reading was incorrect and we had to take the Expo 2020 train first and then transfer to the other line. So we lined up at the wheelchair door for the Metro and hoped the next car was not full. Not so lucky! I just pretended I was in Japan and pushed my way onto it as people got off. Andrew barely made it onto the car. After a couple of stops a very kind man pointed out that I should be next to the window where the wheelchair location is supposed to be so I moved there with difficulty as the car was still pretty full and I was able to sit on my walker which was good. Finally we arrived at the station to transfer where we had to change to the other line for 1 stop. That was easy to do and the car was wide open in terms of seating! We arrived at the station for the Airshow busses quite quickly at that point.

Now, we had endured a HUGE for Dubai standards thunderstorm/lightening (which I did not see thank goodness) and rain storm last night between 3 and 5am. So there was water pooling everywhere at this metro station. We had not noticed it much in downtown Dubai, however here it was very evident. We found the busses and asked about the accessible bus and they told us there were none. So as we had a seminar that I wanted to get to on time, I got up on the highway type bus and my walker went underneath and we were off for the 40 minute drive to the Airshow. I was glad at that time we were on a high bus as there was a LOT of water pooling on both the roads and highways – the bus had no issues getting through it! Soon we arrived at the Airshow building and wow – it is HUGE!

We were able to enter just fine – in fact AGAIN pulled out of the line and told to use a fast entrance (this is getting to be weird on how often this is happening to me) and found the Inclusion and Diversity panel discussion area and it was just about to start (what timing!) so I rolled up to a front row seat and sat down with Andrew next to me.

I had asked the VP of Customer Experience, Eric, at YVR if anyone from YVR was going to be attending this Airshow and he told me about 2 months ago when I was deciding whether to register or not, that no one was attending from YVR. We had seen on the website earlier this week that a gentleman from YVR did attend and speak on a panel earlier this week on a totally different subject, however we were too busy being tourists to attend all 5 days of the Airshow!

The moderator started talking for the “Building an Inclusive Passenger Experience” Panel and introducing the guests and imagine my surprise when she introduced a consultant from eastern Canada (Toronto area) who works with various airport entities on the subject at hand. Then Jason from YVR was introduced and I almost fell off my chair! He is the Manager of Innovation and Technology. So not really one of the people in the Diversity and Inclusion area of YVR but wow – that was a surprise! The two other panelists were Alessio from the Italian Civil Aviation Authority and Ali from Dubai Airports. It was interesting listening to each person talk about their airport and what they have done to include people with various challenges with flying. I am not going to go into a lot of details, however considering that I have been to all the airports that the gentlemen represented, I can attest to what they said was pretty correct, with a bit of a “high level management” spin on it.

Then, the floor was open to questions and as I was the only person with a visible disability in the area, the moderator looked right at me. So I thanked Ali from DXB Airport for the phenomenal experience on arrival and let Alessio that I had a similar experience last month in Rome, however the departure on Air Canada needs to be worked on. Then to the two Canadian panel members I addressed Jason first with a Hello, Bonjour which is what we say at YVR and the shock on his face when I did that was quite funny when he realized that I was associated with YVR too. I then asked both of them about the Canadian Transportation Act and how it requires airlines to take care of passengers to the baggage claim and how then passengers become the airport responsibility which unlike the seamless experience I have had on arrival in Rome and Dubai, leaves something to be desired. I was curious if anything had been done in that area. So Jason let Kirk, the consultant, answer the question and he basically said a politically correct answer which is we need to let the Federal Government know that the Transportation Act does not meet people’s needs and go from there. Then that was the end of this panel discussion!

Jason was then on the next panel discussion which was titled “Bridging the Gender Balance Gap” and he invited us to stay so we did! It was also a very interesting subject – with a female CEO of a Space company (Dr.) and Jason along with a gentleman from a space company in Spain. The main focus was on STEM and getting more women into this area of engineering and math trades, however it was great that Jason also brought up how YVR and the Musqueam have a partnership and how integrated into the YVR culture the Musqueam traditions are.

After the panel discussion Jason and I chatted about YVR a bit and then he had to move on to talk with some other people – you know that networking thing! We went and got a drink as I was thirsty and decided to check out the flight line and the static display.

Holy COW it is hot on that tarmac! Good thing I am wearing sun screen! So some of the planes have left the static display we found out – such as the 2nd 380 and the 777x which is too bad however I guess they can only be idle and on display for so long. Still there are some very beautiful planes here that one does not normally get up close access to! Unfortunately, only stairs and some very tall stair cases to get onto the planes to check them out. Lines too!

So we walked around examining planes, engines, front wheels etc. while the air display was going on. They only release what planes are going to be flying in the air display at 10am each morning – today it was mostly aerobatics/smoke and to my frustration, screamingly loud and made the ground shake when they went over us, military planes!

It was SO COOL to get up close to the underbelly of a Dreamliner and the Airbus 380! Pictures of me below checking them out! After checking out all the “big” planes we also looked at some of the medium sized ones on display – I especially liked the one from Embraer! It must have taken quite a few stops for it to get to Dubai from South America! Such a cool paint job too! Well, after just one too many flyby’s despite earplugs on, that almost made me deaf, we decided to go back and look at the tradeshow display. There were several Canadian companies present so I wanted to say hi to other Canadians! We took a bit of a circuitous route, checking out the washroom, which had a very nice accessible stall that while I was waiting for it, the restroom attendant had to point out to some ladies who as a group tried to jump the queue and use it as a group themselves (that was a new experience for me…) was very clean and totally appropriate. Again, I was treated like royalty in the way the restroom attendant talked about me – do they always talk about people with disabilities with such high regard? Puzzling.

Walked the tradeshow floor and had a chat with a lady from Calgary who works at both the Calgary Airport as a “White Hat” volunteer and for deHavilland. She was surprised to run into another true Canadian. I got why she said “true” when we walked behind their booth to the Government of Ontario Booth and it was staffed by a person from Dubai Embassy and NOT a Canadian! So I did not spend my time there.

Then we decided to leave. So I went to the Airshow customer service desk and asked for accessible transportation back to the Metro. Based on the e-mail that I had received, I was just curious where to catch the accessible bus that had been noted. I realized it was about a 45 minute trip so perhaps we had just missed the bus on our way to the Airshow. Several people later, along with some mis-understandings that a bus that “kneels down” but is a highway type bus is NOT accessible, a lady who we had been passed off to suggested that “we be put in a cab instead”. So they arranged for a cab for us. Now generally when this happens due to a lack of accessibility, the company whose services were lacking pays for the taxi. Nope. Not this time we found out! When we got to the metro we had to pay the $45 Canadian bills. So that left a bad taste in my mind about the Airshow. Totally loved it however for the Friday, where the topic of discussion was Diversity and Inclusion, it was a fail.

At the Metro, we UPGRADED to the Gold or Business class car going back. I was NOT going to squish onto the Metro again! What a difference $6 each makes for the 45 minute journey! We each had our own seat (single seats facing each other next to the window) and my walker could almost fit between us. By the time we got back to the station near our hotel that train was bursting at the seams again, including Gold class and it was a bit hard to get out with my collapsed walker, but we made it!

To celebrate the day, we decided to go to the Indian restaurant in the hotel. Yes I know, Lynda the spice wimp is picking Indian food! The front desk made a reservation for us and we changed and off we went! What a great experience! We sat at the window and the waitress asked us what kind of food we liked and knew already that I was gluten free! I guess word gets around about me. We ended up sharing a chicken Tikka appetizer and then I had butter chicken MILD and Andrew had some kind of beef curry – not quite sure its name. It was an excellent meal! You always know if you are in a good restaurant if the locals eat at the same place and there were 2 huge tables with parties – both Indian families!

Now that we are full, it is off to the room to contemplate going to bed – tomorrow is going to be a “tall” day for us!

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