Deloitte has expanded its Aviation Centre of Excellence in the Middle East with the appointment of three senior team members: Toby Robinson, Michael Dowds and Hassan Malik. The new members join the team to share their extensive experience and support the ongoing commitment to airport, airline government and airport service company clients across the MENA region.

“We are committed to developing our Aviation Centre of Excellence in the Middle East to deliver first class service to our clients in the region. We are able to make this significant commitment due to the continuing support of our clients, and it comes as no surprise that the team has rapidly expanded considering the region’s continued growth and capital spend,” said Graham Pickett, Deloitte’s Global Head of Aviation.

Toby Robinson joins from Deloitte UK and brings with him a wealth of aviation, transport, and infrastructure experience, advising airports and governments around the world on major infrastructure projects. “I am looking forward to joining the team and working on a number of exciting mandates that are currently being delivered as well as taking advantage of the myriad of opportunities that the region’s pipeline of transport Public and Private Partnerships (PPPs) presents,” commented Robinson.

Michael Dowds also joins from Deloitte UK’s Consulting practice and has more than 10 years of experience supporting global aviation clients on their strategy, operations and business transformation projects. “Having been working in the Middle East region for some time, I am very much looking forward to being permanently based in the region to be closer to our airline, airport and government clients and support them with their continuing growth ambitions,” said Dowds.

Hassan Malik recently joined Deloitte’s aviation strategy team from one of the region’s largest airlines where he worked on the airline’s growth strategy over the past 5 years. “My regional experience supporting a global airline to implement their organic and inorganic growth strategy provides valuable insights into what truly works in delivering sustainable airline growth,” commented Malik.

The continuing challenges related to financing the large scale expansion of the industry is seeing aviation clients and national governments seeking more innovative commercial strategies and financing solutions. Deloitte’s global aviation experience spans from working on the financing of some of the world’s largest hub airports such as Heathrow Terminal 5, airline and airport merger due diligence and execution, delivering customer transformation experience strategies for large airports, and developing digital and analytics capabilities in a number of networks.

“Deloitte is the distinctive professional services firm across the globe and these are exciting times as we grow the regional aviation team to ensure we have the best-in-class capabilities to serve our existing aviation clients in the region and position ourselves for future growth,” concluded Dorian Reece, Deloitte’s Head of Airports in the UK and Middle East.