Good evening from Le Bourget!
Well, readers, that was the strangest first day of a Farnborough or Paris airshow I’ve ever been to.
In normal times, executives from airlines, airframers and suppliers are keen to talk to the media, with announcements followed by question-and-answer sessions, exchanges in chalet corridors, small groups of journalists gathering around experts, and so on.
Much of that was what I was hoping to bring you as our flash audio for Pros — but it just wasn’t present at today’s Paris Air Show. Clearly, part of that is a function of the terrible crash of AI171 last week, with condolences a part of almost every event in the commercial airline world today, across airframers and airlines.
So instead of our flash audio updates, Gareth and I sat down for an extra-length extended Pro edition of tonight’s podcast from the show for you, delving deeper into:
- what exactly is going on with Riyadh Air today
- insights from ANA chief exec Shibata Koji on the contexts of travel, especially around inbound tourism
- one of the questions of this year’s show about exactly what an order is, and how airframers (this year, that means Airbus) announce firm orders versus options.
That will pop into your podcast reader if you’ve set it up, or alternatively head on over to the Pro podcasts and downloads page to get started.
