By Danial Dzulkifly
SHAH ALAM, 7 Sept – A sluggish recovery in the civil aviation sector, brought about by challenging post-pandemic economic conditions, is among the reasons for the lower targeted potential transaction value at this year’s Selangor Aviation Show (SAS).
State executive councillor for trade, investment and mobility Ng Sze Han said this in response to Invest Selangor Bhd’s expected value of transactions of RM700 million, compared to last year’s RM1.07 billion.
According to Ng, the reason for the adjustment can also be attributed to the fact that many of the memoranda of understanding (MoU) to be signed at this year's event, are not anticipated to have an immediate positive financial impact.
“The diminished valuation is also due to the sluggish economy. However, I'm confident that SAS will continue its growth trajectory year-on-year,” he told Selangor Journal at the launch of SAS 2023 at Skypark Regional Aviation Centre (RAC), here, today.
“We've already seen immense interest from the public and industry stakeholders this year, with over 20,000 individuals registered to attend the air show.”
SAS 2023, which is scheduled from September 7-9, is expected to welcome over 24,000 visitors, surpassing the expectations of the organisers, Invest Selangor.
This figure is a significant leap from the 10,824 visitors recorded last year. In its inaugural show in 2021, a total of 4,987 individuals were in attendance.
Invest Selangor chief executive officer Dato’ Hasan Azhari Idris said of this year's registered guests, 20,014 are among the general public, while 4,188 are trade visitors.
Last week, in a press conference ahead of SAS 2023, Hasan had said that Invest Selangor is expecting to record RM700 million in value of potential transactions, over RM300 million lesser than last year, due to a downtrend in overall aviation spending.
Meanwhile, Ng said more MoUs are expected to be signed throughout the three-day event, with six already signed earlier today.
Last year, the air show saw the signing of 24 MoUs.
