This is original reporting and analysis by AirPro News.

The AirPro News Aviation and Aerospace Events Calendar lists four events for December 2026, and every one of them falls between December 8 and December 11, 2026. Three of the four are in Milan, Italy. The fourth, the MEBAA Show 2026, takes place at Dubai South (DWC) in the United Arab Emirates.

The listings cover a mix of subjects: business aviation, airport investment and development, airline industry awards, and airline strategy and leadership. On December 10, 2026, all four events are on the calendar at the same time.

These figures describe the calendar, not the whole industry. The count of four is the number of December 2026 listings on the AirPro News calendar as of November 5, 2026. It is not a complete record of every aviation or aerospace gathering held that month. Dates and venues appear as the organizers list them, and readers should check each organizer’s site before making plans.

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Dubai South opens the month with the MEBAA Show

The first December listing on the calendar is the MEBAA Show 2026, from December 8 to 10, 2026, at Dubai South (DWC) in the UAE. The calendar gives its focus as business aviation in the Middle East and North Africa, and notes that the show is biennial, held every other year rather than annually.

It is the only December 2026 event on the calendar outside Italy, and the only one whose listed focus is business aviation. The other three listings center on airports and airlines, and all three are in the same city.

Milan hosts three events from December 9 to 11

Milan carries most of the month’s calendar. GAD World (Global Airport Development) runs on December 9 and 10, 2026, with a focus on airport investment and development. It is the only December listing that centers on airports rather than on airlines or business aviation.

The ATW Airline Industry Achievement Awards follow on December 10, 2026, listed as airline industry awards. The CAPA Airline Leader Summit – World then runs on December 10 and 11, 2026, with a focus on airline strategy and leadership. The calendar entries for the awards and for the summit both link to pages on the same events website.

Taken together, the three Milan events run from December 9 to December 11, 2026, and move in sequence from airport development to airline awards to airline strategy. For airline and airport readers, that places most of the month’s listed program in one city.

December 10 is the busiest date

The dates overlap. December 10, 2026, is the final day of the MEBAA Show and of GAD World, the date of the ATW awards, and the opening day of the CAPA summit. It is the only December date on which all four listed events are running.

For anyone who follows both business aviation in the Middle East and North Africa and the airline and airport meetings in Milan, that overlap means a choice. The MEBAA Show’s closing day falls on the same date as the ATW awards and the first day of the CAPA summit, in a different country.

AirPro News analysis

The December 2026 calendar is short and tightly grouped. Four listings sit inside the span of December 8 to 11, 2026, and Italy accounts for three of them against one for the United Arab Emirates. The Milan events cover airports, airline awards and airline strategy on back-to-back dates, which gives that city most of the month’s airline and airport program on the calendar. The MEBAA Show stands apart in both place and subject: it is the only listing in the Middle East and the only one focused on business aviation.

The overlap on December 10, 2026, is the clearest planning point in the data. A reader who wants to stay at the MEBAA Show through its closing day and also be in Milan for the ATW awards or the opening of the CAPA summit faces a direct clash of dates, so the order of travel matters. Because the calendar lists what organizers have published, the count of four can change if new events are added, and the dates shown here are those on the calendar as of November 5, 2026.

Each listing can be explored on the events layer of the AirPro Atlas, where the December 2026 events sit beside the rest of the calendar’s upcoming listings.

Leonardo raised its 2026 orders guidance to approximately €29.5 billion after booking €23.3 billion in new orders in the first nine months of the year, up 27.8% year over year. Inside its Aeronautics sector, the Aerostructures business unit cut its operating loss to €88 million from €135 million as Boeing 787 and ATR work increased.

In a press release dated November 5, 2026, the group said its Board of Directors had approved the results for the nine months to September 30, 2026. The order backlog reached €60.4 billion, exceeding €60 billion for the first time, helped by the consolidation of the Iveco Group’s Defence business (IDV), which added approximately €6 billion. Revenues rose 14.2% to €15.3 billion and EBITA rose 37.7% to €1,301 million.

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Aerostructures recovery drives Aeronautics profit

Leonardo said the Aeronautics sector showed a significant increase in profitability, driven mainly by the gradual recovery of the Aerostructures business. Sector EBITA rose 91.7% to €184 million on revenues of €3,002 million, up 7.3%, and sector orders of €5,159 million, up 2.8%.

Aerostructures revenues rose 44.1% to €735 million, which Leonardo attributed to higher demand from its main original equipment manufacturer (OEM) customers, Boeing, Airbus and ATR. The unit’s EBITA loss narrowed to €88 million from €135 million, and its return on sales improved from negative 26.5% to negative 12.0%. Aerostructures orders rose 4.8% to €827 million, which the company said confirmed the gradual recovery in OEM demand.

The delivery figures show where the volume came from. For the Boeing 787 programme, Leonardo delivered 63 fuselage sections and 55 stabilizers, against 51 fuselage sections and 38 stabilizers a year earlier. For ATR, it delivered 30 fuselages, against 17 in the first nine months of 2025. The GIE ATR consortium recorded 16 aircraft deliveries, against 11, and its EBITA loss narrowed to €4 million from €34 million.

Military aircraft work

The Aircraft business unit booked €4,448 million in orders, including M-346 trainers for Austria and for the future aircraft of Italy’s National Aerobatic Team, the Pattuglia Acrobatica Nazionale, plus Typhoon orders for Germany, Italy and Turkey. Leonardo delivered 39 wings to Lockheed Martin for the F-35 programme and six wings for the Typhoon programme to the Eurofighter Consortium, both in line with September 2025. Customer support and services made up about 39% of Aircraft revenues, mainly driven by maintenance activities in Kuwait.

Helicopters and the wider group

Helicopter orders rose 27.7% to €6,234 million, with a book-to-bill ratio of 1.4x. The largest was the New Medium Helicopter programme for the UK Ministry of Defence, covering 23 AW149 helicopters for the UK armed forces. Leonardo also booked orders for 131 dual use helicopters, mainly for export customers, against 102 a year earlier. Government orders accounted for 72% of the total and commercial orders for 28%. Helicopter revenues rose 5.4% to €4,317 million and EBITA rose 8.4% to €347 million.

Defence Electronics remained the largest sector, with €11,086 million in orders and €895 million in EBITA. Free operating cash flow was negative €68 million, against negative €426 million a year earlier, and group net debt rose 43.8% to €3,325 million after the IDV acquisition, which Leonardo completed on March 18, 2026, for approximately €1.6 billion.

“We are committed to further strengthening our capabilities to translate our substantial Order Backlog into greater production and delivery capacity, improving process efficiency and programme execution, as required by the current scenario.”

That was Lorenzo Mariani, Leonardo’s Chief Executive Officer and General Manager, who said the results confirm the soundness of the group’s growth strategy.

Guidance and what comes next

Leonardo lifted its 2026 orders guidance to approximately €29.5 billion from approximately €28.2 billion, including IDV, and expects further commercial progress in the fourth quarter. It confirmed the other targets set in July 2026: revenues of approximately €22.1 billion, EBITA of approximately €2.21 billion with a target of a double-digit return on sales, free operating cash flow of approximately €1.37 billion and group net debt of approximately €2.2 billion.

The company said the guidance rests on its current assessment of the impact of the geopolitical situation on the supply chain, inflation and the global economy, subject to any further significant effects. For comparison, Leonardo reported new orders of €23.8 billion, an order backlog of €46.6 billion and revenues of €19.5 billion for 2025, the year covered in its full-year 2025 results. Leonardo DRS’s acquisition of Raft, a mission software company, is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2026 for about USD 450 million.

Bombardier has raised its 2026 free cash flow guidance for the second time this year, to more than $1.3 billion, after a third quarter in which its Services business passed $700 million in quarterly revenue for the first time. Revenues for the quarter rose 3% to $2.4 billion on 33 aircraft deliveries.

The company reported the results in a press release dated November 5, 2026, and reaffirmed the rest of its 2026 guidance: more than 157 aircraft deliveries, revenues above $10.0 billion and adjusted EBITDA above $1,625 million. Those targets are unchanged from the April 30, 2026 update, when the free cash flow forecast was set at more than $1.0 billion.

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Services carry the quarter

Services revenue reached a record $701 million, up 19% from a year earlier, which Bombardier attributed to the growth of its service network and its focus on customer experience. The company said it again ranked first in leading product support surveys.

Éric Martel, President and Chief Executive Officer, said the results were “strong indicators of our foundational strength and resilience.” He said Bombardier was entering the final stretch of 2026 “with a healthy backlog, strong demand” and “solid visibility on all remaining deliveries.”

The aftermarket footprint has kept expanding during the year, including a new line maintenance station in Sydney that opened on October 8, 2026, bringing Bombardier’s Asia-Pacific aftermarket network to 11 facilities.

Margins and earnings

Adjusted EBITDA rose 7% to $382 million, for a margin of 16.1%, up 70 basis points from 15.4%. Reported EBIT increased 17% to $266 million, and the EBIT margin rose 140 basis points to 11.2%. Adjusted EBIT was $267 million, a margin of 11.3%.

Adjusted net income rose 41% to $182 million, or $1.72 per share, from $129 million, or $1.21, a year earlier. Reported net income fell 5% to $81 million, and diluted earnings per share were $0.73, compared with $0.77 in the third quarter of 2025.

Cash, debt and backlog

Free cash flow was $183 million, up 20% from $152 million, and cash flows from operating activities rose 36% to $259 million. Net additions to property, plant and equipment and intangible assets were $76 million, against $38 million a year earlier, and Bombardier expects about $300 million for the full year.

The company said it has reduced debt by $1.1 billion so far in 2026. Long-term debt, including the current portion, stood at $4,052 million at September 30, 2026, down from $5,154 million at the end of 2025, and the ratio of adjusted net debt to adjusted EBITDA fell to 1.5x from 1.9x. Available liquidity was about $2.4 billion, including $1.6 billion in cash and cash equivalents.

Unit book-to-bill was 1.7x for the quarter, and the order backlog reached $22.2 billion at September 30, 2026, up $4.7 billion from $17.5 billion at the end of 2025.

How the 2026 outlook has moved

Bombardier closed 2025 with revenues of $9.55 billion, 157 deliveries and free cash flow of $1,072 million. In February, AirPro News reported that the company had projected more than $10 billion in 2026 revenue. With its first-quarter results in April, it reported a backlog of $20.3 billion and lifted its free cash flow guidance above $1 billion.

Over the first nine months of 2026, Bombardier generated free cash flow of $771 million, against an outflow of $316 million in the same period of 2025. Nine-month revenues were $6,122 million, compared with $5,857 million, and nine-month adjusted EBITDA was $953 million, compared with $901 million.

Defense work also featured in the release. Bombardier cited momentum with its partner Saab, noting that NATO selected the GlobalEye solution and that the Canadian government selected the same platform.

What comes next

Bombardier will hold an in-person Investor Day on February 18, 2027, to update its strategic priorities and outlook, with timing and location details to follow. The company says its fleet in service numbers about 5,300 aircraft, supported by 10 service centres in six countries, and that it builds aircraft in Canada, the United States and Mexico.