Randy's Journal: Archives
03 June 2005
On to Le Bourget
It's almost Paris Air Show time again. It comes around every two years, and sometimes it seems as if we start working on the next one right after it's over. We're already planning for the 2006 air show in Farnborough, UK.
But one thing's for sure. There's a different atmosphere in the aviation world this year compared to 2003 when we last met at Le Bourget Airport.
There's a good preview of what to expect in Flight International. They make the point that the mood is going to be far more optimistic this time. And I have to agree.
WD002, the second 777-200LR Worldliner, will be visiting Le Bourget for the Paris Air Show. The airplane is seen here outside the paint hangar in Everett, WA last month.
Boeing has seen a good deal of momentum recently, not only in some significant order announcements for the 787 and 777 programs, but also continued strong interest in the best-selling 737.
And Europe's aerospace industry is flying high right now as the A380 goes through its test program.
I've attended a lot of air shows over the years. There are fun flying machines to see and friends to catch up with. And as always, there'll be some interesting news coming out of this year's show. I'm sure there'll also be a lot of back and forth about the on-going Airbus subsidies debate.
Something else comes to mind when I think of air shows past. Hype. These shows can often turn into a feeding frenzy of airplane order announcements, or announcements of intent to order, or intent to think about the intent to order!
Seriously, that's not Boeing's way of doing things. We don't save up orders for air shows. Of course, if our customers want to use the Air Show as the venue for an order announcement, we'll support them.
But our thinking is that while these annual or biennial events get a big splash in the media, they make up just one week out of the year. A lot of business gets done during the other 51 weeks.
You might be interested to know that many announcements made with much fanfare at air shows never actually turn into firm airplane orders by year's end.
If you want to see where Boeing is in terms of firm orders, you can see the latest info, updated weekly, on our orders and deliveries site.
Anyway, signs are definitely pointing to an improving year overall for the aviation industry, and that's great news for all of us. I'll let you know what the word is from Paris as I check in during the Air Show the week of June 13th.