The Paris Air Show opened yesterday after a four-year hiatus with the aerospace industry bouncing back from the COVID-19 pandemic, but under pressure to slash its carbon footprint.
Organizers have billed the biennial event as the “recovery air show” after COVID-19 ravaged the sector and led the event’s cancelation in 2021.
The aerospace industry is flocking back to Le Bourget airport outside Paris, as aircraft makers field hundreds of orders and airlines brace for a near-record number of passengers this year.
Photo: AFP
Russia’s war in Ukraine has also led countries to step up military spending, which could benefit aerospace defense firms.
Le Bourget, which runs until Sunday, offers a forum to announce deals with about 2,500 firms lining up to show off their latest planes, drones, helicopters and prototypes such as flying taxis.
Airbus SE chief executive Guillaume Faury, who heads France’s aerospace industry association GIFAS, called it “the return of the good old times of the excitement of the show.”
With 125,000m2 of exhibition space — the equivalent of nearly 18 soccer fields — about 320,000 visitors are expected during the week-long event.
Along with the Farnborough International Airshow in England, which takes place in even-numbered years, Le Bourget is a key sales event for the civil and defense industries.
Airbus and rival Boeing Co compete fiercely in announcing orders for aircraft running into the billions of dollars.
Airbus is in talks with Grupo Viva Aerobus SAB for a large narrow-body aircraft order that would fuel the Mexican low-cost carrier’s expansion, people familiar with the discussions said.
An order could surpass 100 aircraft, one of the people said.
Boeing is preparing to accelerate production of its cash-cow 737 jets “soon,” the planemaker’s commercial chief said, as the company makes progress toward addressing a supplier defect that has slowed deliveries.
The rate break to a 38-jet monthly pace would happen “sooner rather than later,” Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Stan Deal said on Sunday in Paris ahead of the industry’s biggest gathering.
At least 158 planes, helicopters and drones are to be on display, from the latest long-haul commercial jets to the F-35, the latest US stealth jet.
The US is to have a strong presence with 425 exhibitors, bolstered by renewed interest in military equipment in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Firms from 46 other nations would also be present, but not under-sanctions Russia.
China, which lifted COVID-19 restrictions at the beginning of this year, would also be represented.
However, China is not displaying its first homegrown medium-haul passenger jet, the C919, built to compete with the Airbus A320neo and Boeing 737 MAX.
The air show also hopes to open a window into the future as projects for flying taxis and other vertical takeoff aircraft abound.
Several prototypes would be on display as part of a “Paris Air Mobility” exhibition to showcase the latest innovations that developers hope will change how people travel.
French President Emmanuel Macron is to inaugurate the air show after on Friday announcing US$2.2 billion to help develop technologies to reduce aircraft emissions.
Air travel accounts for nearly 3 percent of global carbon emissions, but serves only a small minority of the world population.
With the industry targeting net zero emissions by mid-century, firms are turbocharging efforts to achieve it.
The initial focus is on sustainable aviation fuels, made from sources such as municipal waste, leftovers from the agricultural and forestry industry, crops and plants, and even hydrogen.
Companies are also working to develop battery and hydrogen-powered aircraft.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
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