Abu Dhabi, Nov 12 (IANS) The Gulf region's civil aviation sector is poised to attract more than $45 billion in investments in the next five years, according to a report by Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz).

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is well ahead of other countries in the region on this count, with its new Al Maktoum International Airport in Jebel Ali's Dubai World Central development due to open in the middle of 2010, and with the airport expected to increase the country's capacity by an additional 120 million passengers, WAM news agency reported quaoting a newspaper.

The Emirates Business while quoting the report said that UAE's total investments up to 2014 are estimated to be about $22.3 billion.

There are currently more than $50 billion worth of aviation infrastructure projects in the Middle Easts. "We estimate that the needed investments to sustain this expansion would be in the range of $45-50 bn concentrated primarily in the UAE and Qatar," the report said.