What’s Next? Enhancing Alignment Across Aviation Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) in the UAE

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is home to one of the world’s most dynamic aviation sectors, a position it has earned not only through its location at a global crossroads, but through a business-friendly, decentralized economy that lets each emirate play to its strengths.

As a result, this country of 11.3 million is home to four fast-growing international airlines (Emirates, Etihad Airways, Flydubai and Air Arabia) which have a combined order book of more than 800 aircraft.

The question is: could more be done to make it even stronger?

This issue is at the heart of a new white paper, “Advancing Strategic Alignment Across the UAE MRO Ecosystem,” produced by Aviation Business Middle East with contribution from GE Aerospace and other industry participants.

Core insight: Alignment, not consolidation

Its core insight is compelling: the UAE's aviation MRO sector could go further by making its existing strengths easier to see and connect. The report, however, emphasizes that it is not calling for industry consolidation or reduced competition — the very dynamics that have helped the sector thrive. Providers would remain commercially independent, and any information sharing would take place through an independent third-party facilitator to address anti-trust considerations.

Instead, the paper points to the operational benefits that greater visibility and interoperability could unlock, such as:

• Improved predictability across approval processes
• Simplified transfer of technical records between organizations
• Clearer visibility into future demand from UAE-based airlines and other operators
• Better utilization of existing capabilities
• A stronger commercial foundation for future investment

For Mohamed Al-Sheahabi, Director of MRO Services and Industrialization at GE Aerospace, competition between UAE aviation businesses is “healthy” but he argues that industrial development also needs to sit “under the banner of a bigger mission.”

“The UAE leadership has created an open and dynamic operating environment that has fostered one of the world’s most admired and talked-about aerospace ecosystems,” said Aziz Koleilat, President & CEO of the Middle East, Türkiye, Eastern Europe and CIS for GE Aerospace. “As we expand our own MRO footprint, we look forward to working with partners in the UAE and beyond to build on what is already in place.”

GE Aerospace is doing exactly that. During the 2025 Dubai Airshow, the company broke ground on a new On Wing Support facility at the Mohammed Bin Rashid Aerosapce Hub in Dubai South – a more than US$50 million investment that quadruples its Dubai footprint to 120,000 square feet. For the first time in the company's history of On Wing Support facilities, the site includes a dedicated MRO training space. This facility will contribute to an already extensive ecosystem that includes the four mentioned airlines, quick-turn and heavy-maintenance MRO operations, workforce development institutions, capital resources, advanced logistics infrastructure, free zones and aerospace clusters, and regulatory reliability.

Five recommendations from the paper

Given this mature and diversified MRO sector, the white paper sets out five recommendations for achieving closer alignment across these capabilities:

• Look at the evaluation of a national aviation aftermarket incubation program — a neutral, non-commercial mechanism, convened with an independent facilitator, that gives government, regulators and industry a shared view of national MRO capability, planned investment and opportunities.
• Prioritize investment against identifiable demand — directing new MRO investment toward capabilities backed by recurring demand, clear technical requirements and a credible path to external customers.
• Integrate interoperability — establishing common requirements for transferring technical records, component histories and approved maintenance documentation between authorized organizations, while providers keep their own systems and protect commercially sensitive information.
• Build technical capability around careers — developing the workforce capabilities targeted for growth, with an emphasis on career progression and knowledge retention.
• Strengthen the UAE's MRO proposition as an export platform — helping international airlines, lessors and OEMs understand and access the country's capabilities.

What’s good for MRO is good for GDP

Boosting the nation’s MRO sector is not just good for aviation; it’s good for the entire economy. A 2025 white paper from Aviation Business Middle East and GE Aerospace, “Lifting Economies: The Impact of the Aviation Sector on Middle Eastern Economies”, reported that this industry, which includes aviation MRO, contributed more than 5% to national GDP. 

As this new white paper explains, expanding the aviation MRO sector would create economic value. It would bolster the local industrial base and help more companies meet the global aerospace industry’s rigorous precision and high-performance specifications. A growing sector also would help UAE-based airlines and operators reduce maintenance costs and increase aircraft availability – always two of their top priorities.

With the wider Middle East's aviation MRO market projected by Oliver Wyman to grow from US$18.6 billion in 2026 to US$27.7 billion by 2036, the question the paper leaves us with is: how much of that value could the UAE retain by deepening the alignment of its aviation MRO capabilities.