Representatives from the Bermuda Civil Aviation Authority are back in Dubai this week, seeking opportunities to promote Bermuda’s aircraft registry.

They are attending the Dubai Airshow, which runs from Monday to Friday, billed as the world’s most exciting and innovative air show.

Bermuda’s interests may be viewed among a wider array of global challenges, not the least of which are two international conflicts dominating the world stage.

The island is represented among 180 countries in an important networking opportunity, that is this year being held under the backdrop of the geopolitical tension in the region.

BCAA officials attend several of these types of events a year to promote the registry — the second time to Dubai this year.

They say the focus of the registry is simply to grow in a sustainable way while identifying opportunities to better support their present operators.

But they concede that registry growth will take some time since it was devastated after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

In March of last year, international sanctions resulted in a “deteriorating environment for assuring the continuing airworthiness of aircraft in the Russian Federation”, the authority said in a statement.

In the interest of aviation safety, they provisionally suspended all Certificates of Airworthiness of aircraft that had been operating under an agreement between Bermuda and the Russian Federation.

Less than a week later, Russia wrote back that they were suspending the agreement. Then, without the benefit of Bermuda deregistration, they illegally re-registered them in Russia.

Even today, the BCAA believes the Russian Federation has assigned registry marks to aircraft still registered here.

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Notice Status of Bermuda Registered Aircraft - Russian Air Operators FA.pdf

In January 2020, there were 900 aircraft on the Bermuda Aircraft Registry, a substantial source of revenue to the Bermuda Treasury.

In March 2022, David Burt, the Premier and Minister of Finance, told a post-Budget, but pre-sanctions, press conference that approximately 740 were utilised by Russian air operators. The majority, he said, were owned by leasing companies based in Ireland.

The BCAA said this May that Bermuda’s total registrations were down to 644, including some 480 that were in Russia.

Since the start of the war in Ukraine, BCAA’s revenue had dropped by approximately 85 per cent, they said.

Mr Burt reported to Parliament in July “the $18 million not received from the aircraft registry due to the war in Ukraine”.

Kroll Bond Rating Agency recognised in its October 2022 Bermuda credit ratings the Ukraine war risks of losing registry income of “about $22 million per annum”.

Thomas Dunstan, director general of the BCAA, told CEO Insight for an article published in August, that the loss of revenues was not as profound as some had feared, thanks to a diversification strategy that was already in the pipeline to prevent over-reliance on one single market.

He said the new strategy had to be fast-tracked, with emphasis on the Chinese market, where he believes there are prospects for whom Bermuda would be a natural fit.

The Chinese Government’s declaration to have 400 airports operational by 2035, near important hubs, is evidence of how importantly they value the movement of people and resources, he said.

The BCAA has created a dedicated Chinese website, a social presence and a Shanghai-based Chinese inspector.

Bermuda’s offshore status for Chinese prospects is advantageous, CEO Insight reported, because the 20 per cent VAT tax for the purchase of the aircraft and for registering with the Department of Aircraft Airworthiness Certification is avoided.

Mr Dunstan also told the publication about burgeoning markets in Southeast Asia, India, the Middle East and South America.

With more than 50 people on staff, the BCAA extraordinarily has a 92-year-old aircraft registry (1931) with more than 20 airworthiness inspectors and offices in Bermuda, England and Shanghai.

But as the team continues to market Bermuda abroad, the war in Ukraine is not the only conflict that will affect this week’s Dubai Airshow.

An Israeli defence organisation has pulled out of the event, a withdrawal from one of the world’s largest aircraft-themed expos, after the Hamas attack which led to the Israeli invasion of Gaza.

The biannual expo was expected to attract 1,400 commercial and military exhibitors from 95 countries to Dubai’s Al Maktoum International Airport.

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Bermuda Aircraft Registry - Russian Air Operators.pdf

Israel was a first time attendee at the last event, following the normalisation of ties with the United Arab Emirates. But that apparent thaw in the ice of Arab-Israeli relations may have been short-lived.

Israel’s massive presence at the show was cast in doubt when the International Defence Co-operation Directorate, SIBAT, which spearheads arms transfers on behalf of the Israeli Ministry of Defence, called off its participation.

Under the headline: “Dubai Air Show becomes stage for a Middle East on edge” a report from Defense News said on Friday that the UAE government described the October 7 attacks carried out against Israel as a “serious and grave escalation”.