Whilst the weather may have put a premature end to the day on Monday, the Farnborough International Air Show is back on track with attendance and business at the trade show thriving.

Statistics earlier in the year were predicting one of the most successful shows yet with increased numbers of international participants in the trade show and conferences, and more dedicated country pavilions. In addition to first time country pavilions for Austria, Brazil, Republic of Ireland and China, Boeing has a special pavilion celebrating their centenary which falls on the Friday of the show.

The show has become the UK’s shop window for all things aviation from the civilian, defence and space sectors and as such has led to an increase in the size of the exhibitor footprint and the also the content. There has been increased demand for first time exhibitor space and for the first time there is a dedicated SME lounge. The meet the buyer programme has also had to be extended to accommodate demand.

There may be some economic concerns in the UK following Brexit but the demand for aircraft is clearly not slowing down. Farnborough International reported record orders by the close of day 3 of the trade show and a visitor footfall of around 20,000 each day.

Some of the notable deals announced by Farnborough International so far are Virgin Atlantic concluding the purchase for 12 Airbus A350-1000, the UK government confirming the purchase of 50 Apache Helicopters and 9 Boeing P-8 Poseidon aircraft and AirAsia who signed up for 100 Airbus A380neos.

All this is great news for the UK aerospace industry and economy. Day 1 of the show saw 191 orders announced which are worth an estimated £2.5bn to the UK aerospace industry and according to the MoD, companies in Gloucestershire, Bedfordshire, Cheshire, Hampshire and Gwent will be awarded sub contracts by Boeing. The numbers keep going up with day 2 orders reputed to be worth up to £4.5bn to the UK aerospace industry

However, it’s not just the exhibitors who are landing the deals. Farnborough International themselves have won consultancy business to develop 3 major international air shows: the Sichuan International Airshow, planned for 2019; the Eurasia Airshow in Turkey, planned for 2018 and the Bahrain International Airshows in 2018 & 2020.

The airshow opens to the public over the weekend and there will be plenty to keep everyone occupied with static displays, extended flying displays and plenty of entertainment on the ground too.

Can’t get tickets to the show? You can watch the previous day’s displays and also view the current shows live here.

PRV Engineering is based in Pontypool and manufacture for the aerospace and defence industries. We provide a vast range of products and services using the latest machinery and technologies to provide the best solutions and service to our clients.

Image credit: Dan

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