Summary
- About 60,000 trade delegates at Singapore show, a record number
- Attendees say supply chain concerns linger after pandemic
- China’s COMAC makes first C919 flight outside home market
The four trade days of the event drew close to 60,000 attendees, more than the 54,000 who came in 2018 and nearly four times as many as in 2022 when international visitors had to undergo daily fast COVID-19 testing. As the illness spread around the world, last-minute cancellations rocked the 2020 edition.
Arrivals and departures outside Asia’s biggest air show were severely disrupted by transportation issues, particularly in the early going. Tuesday saw wait times of up to three hours in temperatures over thirty degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) for free shuttle buses to the Expo public transportation hub, while taxi fares to the city may reach up to three times the standard fee.
“‘Worst transport experience’: Crawling traffic, long waits for rides frustrate Singapore Airshow visitors”, ran a headline in local newspaper the Straits Times.
Leck Chet Lam, managing director of show organiser Experia, blamed “higher attendance than in previous editions”.
Commercial exhibitors peddled planes, drones, surveillance technologies, services, and gear in the air-conditioned display area. Buyers and aficionados were drawn to the displays, and Korea Aerospace Industries (047810.KS), which opened a new tab booth on Wednesday, saw a line of people waiting to receive pictures and signatures from pilots.
More than 1,000 commercial and defence companies from 50 countries participated in the show, organisers said.
Russian companies did not take part amid the war in Ukraine but Israeli companies Israel Aerospace Industries and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, which dropped out of the Dubai Airshow in November amid the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, attended.
“The general mood is extremely positive but also very demanding,” said Dennis Kohr, head of corporate sales Asia-Pacific for aircraft maintenance provider Lufthansa Technik Group.
AERIAL DISPLAY
Every day, for about an hour, participants braved the tropical heat to witness aviation demonstrations that included fly-bys by China’s COMAC C919 and demonstration flights by air force teams from Singapore, South Korea, and India, among other countries. It was the first time COMAC’s indigenous jet had flown outside of China.
A agreement with Tibet Airlines for 40 C919 single-aisle aircraft, 10 ARJ21 regional jets, and six ARJ21s for China’s Henan Civil Aviation Development and Investment Group was also announced by COMAC, the first business to announce orders at the exhibition.
Royal Brunei Airlines said shortly after that it was ordering four Boeing (BA.N), opening 787-9 Dreamliners.
Taiwan’s Starlux Airlines (2646.TWO) has placed an order with Airbus (AIR.PA), opens new tab, for five A350 freighters and three A330neo widebody passenger planes. VietJet (VJC.HM), a low-cost airline based in Vietnam, and Airbus have an agreement in principle to build 20 A330neo wide-body aircraft.
Sustainability was emphasized, with air show organizers emphasizing the need to safeguard the environment and Singapore proposing a mandate for green jet fuel to be supported by a traveler charge. However, the industry is still split on how to reach its target of net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Supply chain issues clouded some of the show’s optimism, with exhibitors citing long lead times and high costs, which have dogged the industry since COVID and worsened after Russia invaded Ukraine. The problems have been especially acute for raw materials such as aerospace-grade metals.
Still, Paul Bolton, chief operating officer of First Aviation Services, was hopeful the worst was over and that growing demand would lead manufacturers back to aerospace production.
“It will get better in maybe two to three years,” he said.
