Stratagems to Beat Recession

In all, the Farnborough International Air Show was muted, but had enough food for thought for companies to rework their strategies, technologically and marketwise

After the London Olympics 2012 and the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations, the third largest public event was the Farnborough International Air Show, the world’s biggest aviation mela. While it had footfalls of over 2,50,000, both public and trade, the Farnborough skies did not really light up as dark clouds of recession continued to play havoc.

There were no screaming headlines of airframers walking away with mega orders, though enough media space was taken by the jousting of the two aerospace giants (Airbus and Boeing) and the battle of the engine makers (CFM International; Pratt & Whitney)

Even the UK Prime Minister, David Cameron, who inaugurated the air show, was cautiously optimistic, while endorsing support to the UK defence and aerospace community. He pledged the government’s “unstinting, unrelenting, unflagging commitment to make Britain the best place in the world for aerospace businesses to invest, design, manufacture and export”.

Cameron pointed out, “In a hugely difficult time in the global economy, UK aerospace is quite simply, flying, employing over 1,00,000 people, turning over more than £20 billion a year, holding a 17 per cent share of the global market. But there can be absolutely no complacency. International competition gets more fierce by the year. The UK has got to fight for every contract and every opportunity. That’s why we as a government are doing everything possible to get behind UK aerospace. We’ve established an aerospace growth partnership to make sure that five, ten, twenty years down the line, this industry continues to thrive and grow.”

So seems to be the intent of all governments—supporting an industry which has tremendous potential.

Show highlights

The highlight of the show was the spectacular five-hour flying display on the public days (July 14 & 15) by the incomparable Red Arrows, the Breitling Jet Team and the Blades Aerobatic Display Team.

Additional airborne entertainment came from the much loved Battle of Britain Memorial Flight and the crowd favourite the Avro Vulcan, contrasting with the cutting edge technology of the Yak 130, the AAC Apache Helicopter and the giant passenger jets, the Airbus A380 and Boeing’s Dreamliner in Qatar livery.

On the ground, crowds got up close to see the future of commercial space travel as Farnborough hosts the first European public appearance of Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo replica. A prototype Mars Rover named ‘Bridget’ was also on show. Over 50 aircraft were on static display.

Boeing, Airbus on a consolidation spree

Boeing scored at the show, thanks to its growing leasing company customers such as Air Lease Corporation, GECAS, ALAFCO and Avolon all of them totalling orders of 220 737 family airplanes. In addition, United Airlines ordered 150 of 737 jets, worth $14.7 billion at list prices. During the Farnborough week, Boeing had orders and commitments for 396 airplanes, valued at over $37 billion. The number of Boeing net orders for 2012 stands at 691, and the 737 Max has accumulated 649 orders till date.

Boeing announced during the show key partnerships with Embraer (weapons integration for A-29 Super Tucano) and Elbit Systems (collaboration on Hermes unmanned airborne systems). The company also shared plans for the 2012 ecoDemonstrator, an American Airlines 737-800 that will be used as a flying test-bed to accelerate environmentally progressive technologies. New Boeing offerings for defence and security customers unveiled at the show include a medium-sized maritime surveillance aircraft and the introduction of the intelligent sensor camera system that fully integrates video processing capability.

Airbus’ focus on expanding global footprint

In reviewing the 115 new sales and commitments announced during the Farnborough week, Airbus President and CEO Fabrice Brégier said that Airbus will maintain the focus on evolving the company’s aircraft family while ensuring its responsiveness to customers.

“We continue to invest in our success stories,” explained Brégier, who assumed the top executive responsibilities at Airbus last month. “The management transition has been very smooth, and I kept the same team—which has worked together very well for the past five years—while also evolving the company’s organisational structure. This smooth transition is the right thing for our shareholders, for our customers and for the continuation of our programme activity.”