COMMENT: That Was the Week That Was ” Now It”s Over Let It Rest
"That Was the Week That Was” is remembered fondly by a certain
generation when a group of very clever journalists and actors
performed live every Saturday night on black and white BBC TV
satirically reminding viewers of the seven days that had just gone
past. Sadly Farnborough 2006, easily the best ever in organisational
terms, will be very quickly forgotten unlike TW3. Yes the Airbus A380
made its UK show debut, participants and attendees came in record
numbers, but in truth Farnborough was very flat. Maybe the build-up
did not meet expectations. Maybe there was no real news. Maybe it was
just too hot! But behind the scenes a great deal of business was
done.
In media terms the highlight of the show was the Airbus press
conference on the Monday morning. The excellent new media centre
could not cope. In truth no facility would have been able to hold all
the journalists that wanted to attend. New Airbus CEO Christian
Streiff (above) was, what could only be said, in robust form. He had
been with the multi-national company just two weeks. Speaking only in
English and with his easy going style he made a stark contrast to his
predecessor No”l Forgeard, a man in the mould of his mentor Jacques
Chirac. Perhaps Mr Streiff was a little too downbeat, speaking of what
he termed a ”critical situation” and mentioning the word ”crisis” once
too often. After all, in spite of the A380 delays and the A330
re-design Airbus is a success story. A320 series orders total 4,361
with a backlog of just over 1,500 to deliver. To his great credit Mr
Streiff also made himself available at other press briefings, a great
change from the past. He made it clear that it is early into his
fiefdom. He has given himself 100 days to review the company and
already has been seen on production lines enquiring and learning. No
long August holiday for him.
British Prime Minister Tony visited the show on the Thursday arriving
by helicopter and departing on Swiss charter company Comlux A319
Corporate Jetliner, perhaps a sign of things to come. Before touring
the exhibition he met groups of Youth Ambassadors for the aerospace
industry as part of a launch for the International Youth Day which
took place on the Friday.
FIA 2006 was one of the biggest in recent memory with 1,480 exhibitors
from 35 countries taking part. Some 75 defence delegations from 43
countries attended, along with 40 civil aerospace delegations from 15
countries. In addition, trade show attendance figures during the week
broke all records with 140,000. Attendance for the two public days was
dramatically up, from 110,000 to 130,000.
Farnborough, as ever generated a large number of useful stories, none
of them earth shattering. None that was until the Friday when
Singapore International Airlines, as seems to be the norm these days,
confirmed that it was to be the lead carrier for the A3500XWB
(see below). M. Streiff had cause to smile. Maybe the crisis
(his words don”t forget) is over.
http://www.farnborough.com