Judging by the money they have pumped into Team New Zealand with Emirates its fair to assume Dubai's business leaders know a thing or two about the America's Cup.
It's apt then that they have adopted an Alinghi-style approach to building their airports team - poach them fromthe competition. All nine executives at DAE Airports come from Copenhagen Airports.
Chief executive Kjeld Binger was with Copenhagen for 13 years, initially building up its domestic operations he helped boost capacity from 12 million passengers to 30 million between 1994 and 1999.
In the face of accusations that DAE Airports has no track record, he is not shy about mentioning his own record.
During his time Copenhagen listed on the stock exchange and became the most profitable airport in the western hemisphere, he says.
It was also ranked best airport three times in a row by airline industry body IATA.
He then shifted focus to international expansion where he helped Copenhagen buy 11 airports outside of Denmark. That's what he's expected to do for DAE.
In January this year, when he joined DAE, he said he expected to spend up to US$4 billion ($5 billion) on airports by 2010.
Joining Binger in New Zealand this week was his chief financial officer, Hamish De Run, an Australian who joined Copenhagen via his role with its majority owner Macquarie Airports. Born in 1976 De Run was appointed to the Copenhagen board last year, which he says makes him the youngest ever director of a listed company in Denmark.
