The Dubai Airshow began today, and the first day was an orgy of spending. Or at least an orgy of commitments to spend.

It apparently was the biggest day in the history of the aviation business.

Boeing and Airbus, the world leaders (and rivals) in building big passenger planes, were the major benefactors of the orders taken, and two UAE airlines, Emirates and Etihad were the biggest spenders.

How big?

Emirates, the Dubai-owned airline, put in orders worth $99 billion, including 150 Boeing 777X planes and 50 of the double-decker Airbus A380 superjumbo (500-plus capacity), which is taking over the big-plane end of the business while Boeing struggles to deliver on the 787 Dreamliner.

Etihad, the Abu Dhabi-owned airline, announced it would buy $67 billion in planes, again nearly all of that going to Airbus or Boeing.

Orders are not the same as planes built and sold, but it makes for a good start, and Sunday was a very good day for anyone who works for Boeing or Airbus, which are headquartered in Chicago and Toulouse, France.

Boeing alone has 170,000 employees, more than half of them working at the enormous facility in Renton, Washington, near Seattle.

Qatar Airways, based in Doha (about 40 air minutes away from the UAE), also spent a lot of theoretical cash, $19.4 billion.

Like Emirates, Qatar showed a lot of interest in the Boeing 777X (50 ordered) but also buying five of the Airbus 330-200s it intends to use to carry cargo. Qatar’s chairman noted that the 777 is “backbone of our fleet”.

Even the relatively obscure (outside the Middle East) budget airline FlyDubai ordered 111 Boeing aircraft for $11.4 billion. Taking a page out of Dallas-based Southwest Airlines‘ business plan, FlyDubai appears to operate only Boeing 737s, which makes for more efficient upkeep.

(Southwest flies nothing but 737s, more than 500 of them.)

The orders by the Gulf-based airlines demonstrate the spending power behind them, as well as the increasing importance of the Gulf as the link between Europe and Asia, and between those two continents and Africa.

If you are a serious traveler, you will change planes in Abu Dhabi, Dubai or Doha someday, if you have not already.