State-owned Dubai Aerospace Enterprises (DAE), which last month dropped a $1.8 billion bid for New Zealand's Auckland airport, said is it studying airport investment projects in the Middle East and Australasia.

"We are not put off by New Zealand," DAE Chief Executive Bob Johnson told reporters in Dubai on Wednesday. "We have a pipeline of opportunities, principally in the Middle East and Australasia."

DAE could either buy into existing airports or build new ones, Johnson said, declining to be more specific.