Last week the 47th Paris Air Show took place at its traditional Le Bourget site. The original Paris airport has excellent public transport accessibility to the local RER station from Gard du Nord, but from that point it is a slog. Whether you are coming by road or rail, the last mile or so into the site requires either patience or a strong pair of legs. The show area is vast and some kind of fitness campaign is needed before even attempting to see much of what is on display. Editor-in-chief Malcolm Ginsberg did the rounds.
With a host of announcements, many of which were dressed up versions of what had gone on before, it its clear that both the aviation industry and the airline business are in a healthy state. Lewis Hamilton, Britain”s new motor racing star turned up to promote Learjet clearly an aircraft in the sporting image.He is seen here with Emily Rieder, daughter of Udo, Bombardier”s vice-president parts and logistics.
Airbus and Boeing vied for orders. Whilst the numbers looked ” and are ” impressive, the increase in A380 sales did not include a new customer. Boeing is still to announce a 747-8 order to back-up the Lufthansa commitment.
Perhaps with the most newsworthy story was that Seattle was looking for a 777 update which might be on-line before a new narrow-bodied aircraft to replace the 737 comes to fruition. Boeing is clearly not going to make the previous mistake with the 747-400 with no serious remodelling for 20 years. Time is catching up with the 777.
For the record Airbus says it received a total of 425 firm orders from 19 customers during the week and Boeing claimed a mere 125 at $15.92bn. Read what you like into the figures. Akbar al Baker of Qatar Airway and Louis Gallion, the new boss of Airbus, seem pretty pleased with the week.
However the real big winner was Rolls-Royce (RR) announcing order after order. The Trent engine will power the first 787 into airline service, ANA next June, and it is also the only engine announced to date for the Airbus A350 XWB with Qatar now the lead airline and 80 aircraft confirmed. The A380 first flew powered by Rolls.
Quietly R-R have been doing very well on the servicing front too picking up deal after deal with its ”TotalCare” maintenance package, a typical contract announced at the show was that with Thai Airways International covering the Trent 500 engines on its ten latest-generation Airbus A340s. It also confirmed a partnership with Dassault Aviation to power the new Falcon super mid-size (SMS) business jet. The British company is a senior partner in IAE which supplies the V2500 for the Airbus A320 series, including the A319 Corporate Jet. RR confirmed business worth $200m as a result of orders from Blue Wings and CIT Group for V2500 engines to power A320 family aircraft.
Swiss watch manufacturer Breitling displayed its Lockheed Constellation both on the ground and in the air, Eryl Crump capturing the moment that the A380 flew past.
As always the show was basically divided into three. Firstly, a pair of long lines of chalets where fine catering is offered to those visitors with invitations (or the skill needed to gatecrash). It”s more of a ”thank you” experience rather than somewhere to do real business, but introductions are made which will be followed up in the months ahead. Paris is all about networking. Le Bourget, like Farnborough, is both the defence industry and the civil aviation market. They sit side by side.
The second part of Le Bourget is the massive indoor exhibition area in six halls and on display a vast range of aerospace support equipment and sub-assemblies. To take in all that is on offer would need the whole of the four days of the trade show, without venturing into the chalets. Friday, Saturday and Sunday is mostly given over to the public. The professionals withdraw. ABTN has reported on Parker Aerospace”s security camera project for Airbus. Tucked away on a side wall of the stand it is perhaps the most significant item of new equipment on display at Paris.
Thirdly we must mention the aircraft park, once again dominated by the Airbus A380. It would have been interesting if the Boeing Dreamlifter, the converted 747 used for ferrying 787 assemblies around the world, could have made an appearance, but the two aircraft, with two more on the way, are far too busy to allow Paris stopovers.
For the 2007 show there was little new hardware on display in terms of aircraft, although Ukraine manufacturer Antonov had in the aircraft park (and flying) the prototype 148 regional jet, something of a cross between the BAe/Avro series and the Dornier 428; one no longer in production and the other still born. Claimed to be 20% cheaper than the rival and slightly larger Embraer 170, the aircraft will probably need a change of engine for it to be acceptable in the west.
Once again very obvious was the A380, this time with a full interior fitted. However it was the Jet Airways” Boeing 777ER in its new colour scheme that was the most interesting (for those allowed inside). Observers who were quick to climb on board and be hosted by Naresh Goyal, Jet Airways” charismatic chairman, included Sheik Mohammed of Emirates, Akbar Al-Bakar of Qatar Airways and at the same time Izzy Borovich chairman of El-Al.
Jet Airways is on record as saying that it wants to be seen amongst the top five world airlines in terms of service and certainly the new first class on display is truly outstanding. Each seat is a single module which can totally cut off the occupant from the rest of the aircraft. An illuminated electronic control panel looks after, amongst other items, a massive 25” TV monitor. There is a bench for a second passenger, should the resident wish to dine accompanied. The whole concept makes for an interesting comparison with Etihad”s idea of electrically operated seats which can turn through either 90” or 190” for the passenger to join another party for a meal or discussion.
Tucked away in a private pavilion was a mock-up of Bombardier”s C type regional jet (left) which has still to get the final go-ahead. Discussing the length of time it has taken for Bombardier to bring the CSeries to market, the company”s chairman Laurent Beaudoin, defending the position, said: ”We were the first one to develop a regional jet, and in fact the first one to develop the Q400, a high-speed turboprop, and the first one to launch a large, long-range business jet in the Global Express. So we”ve been quite innovative.” The CSeries would mark a major step forward for Bombardier, a 100-seat plus aircraft, five abreast in an economy layout, and a 7ft (213.4cm) tall cabin with massive overhead bins. It would compete with the now ageing smaller Airbus A320 series and Boeing New Generation designs.
Plans for two supersonic business jets were circulating at the show, a measure of how far the market has recovered from a slump after the attacks of September 11, 2001 and the demise of Concorde. ”Son of Gulfstream” is officially called The Quiet Supersonic Transport and is backed by J. Michael Paulson, whose father was Gulfstream”s founder, the late Allen Paulson. Promoted by a company called Supersonic Aerospace International, the aircraft is based on a design by Lockheed Martin. Scheduled to be ready to fly in 2013, the plane will be only one-hundredth as noisy as Concorde, according to the US company.
As an alternative Aerion Corporation, which calls itself an advanced aeronautical engineering organisation, headquartered in Reno, Nevada and backed by Texas oil billionaire Robert Bass, was promoting the Aerion Supersonic Business Jet. Bass is looking for partners to invest in the project, which may cost $2bn over five years to develop. It is designed to fly at Mach 1.6 over water and 0.98 overland.
But for the ultra-rich, and available today, Airbus and Boeing are taking orders from individuals for customized versions of their largest aircraft. Last month Boeing said it won an order for a private 787 Dreamliner from Hong Kong real estate tycoon Joseph Lau, worth about $150m at list prices ” about three times as much as the costliest Gulfstream. Airbus says it is negotiating a private order for an A380. One assumes that the staff fly upstairs, but what the ”greens” will make of perhaps 20 people on a potential 800-seater we can only speculate. John Leahy would say that an order is an order. One assumes it would fly with a small light jet in tandem or store a helicopter on board. Just for the short hop from a major airport to the local grass aerodrome or helipad! New French president did manage a visit on the Saturday (European affairs kept him busy earlier in the week) but even allowing of his enthusiasm for the aircraft we don't think he is in the market for an A380 (see photo with A380 model).
ABTN travelled to Paris via Eurostar. Roll on St Pancras in November, 2h 15m of smooth travel to Gard du Nord, ten minutes on the RER, and five minutes (on a very good day) by bus to the show site. Roll on 2009.