Aircraft manufacturers are descending on Asian Aerospace in Singapore with an eye toward lucrative deals in an industry rising from the ashes like a phoenix.
The biennial trade show that begins Tuesday and runs through Feb. 29 includes 758 exhibitors from 33 countries who are counting on the improved world economy and having the SARS havoc behind them for coveted signatures on dotted lines.
PHOTO: AFP
Show organizer Asian Aerospace Ptd Ltd is confident of topping the US$3.2 billion in deals announced at the 2002 event held only five months after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the US.
"The airline industry has bounced back" from the clobbering inflicted last year by the severe acute respiratory syndrome [SARS], said Asian Aerospace president Ed Ng.
"The fact that Asia has strong economic growth does point to more air travel", he noted. "With the upward trend of the aviation industry, more deals could be done."
The flight lines at Asia's premier aerospace event feature 50 different aircraft including the industry's latest offerings in commercial jets and the meanest fighters.
Boeing is fielding "a broad and significant presence," said the US-based giant, which will be highlighting the 7E7 Dreamliner.
The mid-sized, two-engine plane and its stretch version are due to fly in 2008. It is Boeing's first all-new airliner in more than a decade.
Seating between 200 and 250 passengers and having a range of up to 8,300 nautical miles, the 7E7 is Boeing's answer to the superjumbo being built by its arch-competitor, the European consortium Airbus.
With Airbus convinced bigger is better, its 500-seater with 49 per cent more floor space and 35 per cent more seats than a Boeing 747 is expected to go into service in 2007.
Although Asia is the fastest-growing market for the rival manufacturers, analysts said the new planes represent gambles for both, particularly Boeing which was replaced by Airbus last year as the world's biggest seller of commercial aircraft.
Boeing insists airlines are not going for large aircraft, but opting for increasing frequency to give travellers additional flying options.
Ng cited the "new segment of travel" from the surge in Asia's budget carriers.
Ten carriers operate low-cost airlines in the region, and more are planning to do so.
Among the airlines that have recently announced plans to start budget carriers are Thai Airways International, Orient Thai and Tiger Airlines, owned by Singapore Airlines and Temasek, the government's investment arm.
Most are buying or leasing used planes, but Airbus and Boeing are anticipating that will change.
"There is no question there are phenomenal opportunities to grow low cost, low price air travel in Asia," Christian Scherer, deputy head of Airbus' commercial and customer affairs, told a recent symposium.
As the region's economies grow there will be even more regional travel, he said, citing announcements by Australia's Jetstar, Singapore startup Valuair and Bangkok Airways that each will be using A320s.
Deals aside, Asian Aerospace includes five aviation and defense-related conferences. Among the issues to be tackled are aviation security, prospects for the air freight industry and the future of unmanned aerial vehicles.
To keep the sprawling event site safe, hundreds of security personnel from the police and military will be out in force in addition to an array of private security officers.
All vehicles entering the area will be searched and the undersides scanned.
"Metal detectors, X-ray machines and sniffer dogs trained to detect explosives, like ammonium nitrate and TNT, will also be used," said Deputy Superintendent Jarrod Pereira.
Visitors have been advised passing through all the checks could be a lengthy procedure.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said that its investment plan in Arizona is going according to schedule, following a local media report claiming that the company is planning to break ground on its third wafer fab in the US in June. In a statement, TSMC said it does not comment on market speculation, but that its investments in Arizona are proceeding well. TSMC is investing more than US$65 billion in Arizona to build three advanced wafer fabs. The first one has started production using the 4-nanometer (nm) process, while the second one would start mass production using the
‘SILVER LINING’: Although the news caused TSMC to fall on the local market, an analyst said that as tariffs are not set to go into effect until April, there is still time for negotiations US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that he would likely impose tariffs on semiconductor, automobile and pharmaceutical imports of about 25 percent, with an announcement coming as soon as April 2 in a move that would represent a dramatic widening of the US leader’s trade war. “I probably will tell you that on April 2, but it’ll be in the neighborhood of 25 percent,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago club when asked about his plan for auto tariffs. Asked about similar levies on pharmaceutical drugs and semiconductors, the president said that “it’ll be 25 percent and higher, and it’ll
When an apartment comes up for rent in Germany’s big cities, hundreds of prospective tenants often queue down the street to view it, but the acute shortage of affordable housing is getting scant attention ahead of today’s snap general election. “Housing is one of the main problems for people, but nobody talks about it, nobody takes it seriously,” said Andreas Ibel, president of Build Europe, an association representing housing developers. Migration and the sluggish economy top the list of voters’ concerns, but analysts say housing policy fails to break through as returns on investment take time to register, making the
CHIP BOOM: Revenue for the semiconductor industry is set to reach US$1 trillion by 2032, opening up opportunities for the chip pacakging and testing company, it said ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控), the world’s largest provider of outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) services, yesterday launched a new advanced manufacturing facility in Penang, Malaysia, aiming to meet growing demand for emerging technologies such as generative artificial intelligence (AI) applications. The US$300 million facility is a critical step in expanding ASE’s global footprint, offering an alternative for customers from the US, Europe, Japan, South Korea and China to assemble and test chips outside of Taiwan amid efforts to diversify supply chains. The plant, the company’s fifth in Malaysia, is part of a strategic expansion plan that would more than triple
RSS