Middle East's First Hot Air Balloon Museum to Open in the UAE

The UAE Hot Air Balloon Team has signed an agreement with Japan's Saga Balloon Museum to establish the Middle East's first dedicated hot air balloon museum. Named 'UAE Balloon Museum 7', the planned institution will become the seventh specialised museum of its kind worldwide, according to the organisers.

The agreement was signed during an official visit by the UAE delegation to the Saga Balloon Museum in Japan, coinciding with its participation in the 39th Pacific Cup and the Saga International Balloon Fiesta. The partnership will draw on Japanese expertise in aviation museum management, exhibition development and educational programming.

The museum will explore the history of hot air ballooning and the technologies involved in manufacturing and operating balloons. It will also document the UAE Hot Air Balloon Team's international activities, including its flights commemorating the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan through a balloon bearing the slogan 'The world will never forget you, Zayed'.

The project will join a network of specialised museums that includes two institutions in the United States and others in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Japan. It will be operated and managed by Emirati professionals, with plans to incorporate educational and training programmes focused on aviation and ballooning technology.

The partnership also builds on the UAE team's longstanding relationship with the Saga Balloon Museum. According to Deputy Director Kiyoshi Mori, the team became the first to have an Arabic name inscribed on the museum's honour boards in 2006.