Copyright Simple Flying
The world-famous Dubai Airshow 2025 is fast approaching with a star-studded list of commercial jets, helicopters, private planes, and combat aircraft to stun spectators with flying displays and rare up-close experiences. The show has hosted awesome performances from aerobatic teams, colossal Airbus A380 “Super Jumbos” flying in formation, and appearances by the much-anticipated Boeing 777X prototype. Gates are opening on November 17th and closing a few days later on the 21st. In the course of that small window, visitors have the opportunity to see some of the latest and greatest technology emerging in commercial and defense aerospace technology. There will be displays of electric air taxis, spacecraft, drones, and more alongside four stages with keynote speakers and guest panels charting the course for the future of the industry. The 2025 installment will be the largest event in the airshow’s history, with over 8,000 square meters of venue space hosting over 1,500 exhibitions run by nearly 150,000 professionals hailing from more than 150 nations around the world. From the “Party on the Runway” to the “Airshow After Dark,” there are countless ways to enjoy the show. For our part, we will spotlight a few of the most anticipated airplanes making an appearance at this year’s show. Without further ado, let’s go down the list! C909 Regional Jet COMAC This aircraft is making its first appearance at the Dubai Airshow. Made in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the C909 is the country’s first indigenously developed regional jet. COMAC, or Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, is the PRC’s steadily developing commercial aircraft maker. The effort to produce domestic jetliners is a decade-long endeavor that traces back to the 1970s and is still pushing to catch up to the likes of Boeing and Airbus. The C909 was born from an aborted collaboration with McDonnell Douglas to produce MD-80s in the 1980s. At that time, the Shanghai Aircraft Manufacturing Company produced 20 of the planes before the operation shutdown. After being absorbed by COMAC, the effort to make an indigenous regional jet was rekindled, and the C909, or ARJ21, took flight for the first time in 2008. It officially entered service with Chengdu Airlines in 2016 but has never been displayed at a major airshow outside of the PRC. Although this aircraft is in and of itself not a marvel of new and pioneering technologies, it is a symbol of progress for the domestic aerospace industry in the PRC. The C909 offers a close-up view to visitors of what the nation’s rapidly developing aviation industry can produce today. COMAC has gone on to develop a freighter variant of the 80-seater jet, and the first international route flown by C909s began in 2025 between Hohhot, China, and the capital of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar. C919 Jet Airliner COMAC The C919 is the first commercial jet made in China that could be competitive with Airbus and Boeing’s staple products, the A320 and 737, respectively. The A320 and 737 are the two best-selling airliners in civil aviation history, with the A320 surpassing the 737 just this October to take the number one spot. The C919 entered service in 2023 with China Eastern Airlines, and like the C909, this year will also be its first appearance at the Dubai Airshow. Breaking into the single-aisle, twinjet market is crucial for COMAC to establish a core platform that can claim a market share of the vast, and still growing, air travel market in the PRC. The opportunity is now as Boeing’s 737 MAX has floundered in recent years with two tragically fatal accidents within six months in 2019 followed by the longest and largest-scale global fleet grounding in history. The C919 is the first true competitor to the workhorse jetliners produced by the incumbent titans of the commercial airliner market in decades. Russia’s Yakoklev MC-21 has emerged as an attempt to offer an alternative to the Airbus and Boeing, which are no longer available due to sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine, but the MC-21 has yet to complete testing. The C919 invites show-goers to take a sneak-peek into one of the industry's rarest and potentially most disruptive new aircraft. While technically speaking, it is not a groundbreaking design, its market potential makes it a very exciting product. JF-17 Fighter Jet Chengdu Aircraft Corporation A jointly developed fighter jet by Chengdu Aircraft Corporation (CAC) and the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC), the JF-17 “Thunderbolt” is one of the only lightweight fighters made outside of the Western sphere of aerospace. The Dubai Airshow will be the type’s third appearance at a display outside of Pakistan or the PRC, with the first being in Bahrain in 2024, and the second being just this July at the 2025 Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) in the United Kingdom. The jet is also known as the FC-1 Xiaolong and replaced outgoing third-generation fighters like the MiG-21 derived F-7 or older Dassault Mirage III and 5 series. It is a fourth-gen fighter like the General Dynamics (now Lockheed Martin) F-16 "Fighting Falcon" although the “Viper,” as the F-16 is called, beats the JF-17 on performance and weapons capability. The JF-17 offers an affordable package for air forces seeking a flexible, multirole fighter but can’t afford the costly American and European platforms. The JF-17 is estimated to be roughly half the price of what a factory-fresh F-16 retails at, or approximately $25 million. Pakistan has even demonstrated the jet’s ability to perform aerial refueling by tanking it with one of their Ilyushin Il-78s. The aircraft flew from Pakistan to Azerbaijan on a long-range exercise as part of joint training between the two air forces earlier this month. The Thunderbolt represents a rare chance for show visitors to see one of the first independently developed fighters outside of the Western bloc or Russia. KC-390 Tanker Transport Jet Embraer The “Millennium,” as the KC-390 is dubbed, is one of Embraer's more exciting new platforms in the last decade. The Brazilian planemaker is one of the largest builders of commercial aircraft in the world, making a huge percentage of the global regional jet fleet, but its less famous defense product line has also steadily expanded and improved in recent years. The Millennium first entered service with the Brazilian Air Force in 2019 and has gone on to be adopted by Portugal in 2023 and Hungary in 2024, with a backlog for numerous other air forces on the books. As a smaller, more cost-efficient, but similarly designed platform to the Boeing C-17 Globemaster III, the Millennium was made for air forces upgrading legacy cargo and tanker fleets that want to modernize without breaking the bank. The KC-390 delivers a ruggedized, high-performance, flexible, twinjet with high mission capability without demanding buyers to shell out for costlier jets like the Boeing C-17 or KC-46 Pegasus. The aircraft has proven itself to have exceptionally high readiness levels under high-stress operational tempos with Brazil’s Armed Forces. Embraer’s defense lineup also includes the turboprop EMB 314 Super Tucano for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) as well as close-air-support (CAS) missions and the ERJ-145-based R-99 for airborne early warning and control (AEW&C). Both of these aircraft has achieved success in their own right, but the KC-390’s highly flexible mission capability and efficiency may make it far more successful than its predecessors. The KC-390 may look diminutive compared to larger Boeing jets in the same class, but it can still fit a Black Hawk helicopter inside the cargo bay, as Portugal demonstrated in 2023, according to Zona Militar. The jet’s intercontinental range allowed it to fly to the US for a pick-up and fly over the Atlantic Ocean for delivery. The Millennium is faster than legacy planes like the Lockheed C-130 but more affordable to procure, sustain, and operate than competing jet-powered platforms. Its ability to operate from short and unpaved runways makes it a rugged Swiss Army Knife of the airlift world. The order list for KC-390 Milleniums includes Austria, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Slovakia, South Korea, Sweden, and Uzbekistan. A380 Super Jumbo Jet Airbus No story about the Dubai Airshow would be complete without mention of the incredible Airbus A380 "Super Jumbo." Emirates owns the largest fleet of A380s in the world, which are based at Dubai International (DBX), where custom-made terminals and facilities were built to serve the flying giants. Almost half the total number of A380s ever constructed call Dubai home, with Emirates boasting 116 on its flightline, according to Planespotters.net data. The increasingly rare double-decker quadjet fell out of favor with carriers like Thai Airways and Malaysia Airlines due to its high operating cost, which led to a major financial crunch for many operators during the Coronavirus Pandemic. Airbus shut down the production line in 2021 due to the poor demand for the gigantic passenger jet. Even Lufthansa parked its small fleet of A380s, although they have returned to service thanks to the rebound in demand for air travel. Emirates is an advocate for renewed production of an A380neo to enhance the operating efficiency of the enormous plane, but its maker has not been persuaded of the business case yet. The 747 assembly line was also shuttered by Boeing in 2023 for the same reason, essentially ending the era of both quadjets and jumbo jets once and for all. Dubai Airshow has put on stunning flying displays with the A380 in past installments of the show series, making it one of the most special and fun places to get a glimpse of this increasingly rare bird. The days of these flying giants are numbered. Seeing Airbus’ grandest flagship jet in all its glory at the Dubai Airshow is sure to be a memory of a lifetime for a show-goer.
