Face off

The Farnborough Airshow points to the future of aviation

The biennial Farnborough Airshow, and its Paris counterpart in odd-numbered years, are often strange beasts to cover from the perspective of passengers and the aviation industry half a world away in Australia, New Zealand and Asia-Pacific.

The geopolitical context has been changing the way Farnborough works

At shows like this, most headlines revolve around whether Boeing outsold Airbus or vice versa. This competition drives some not entirely rational behaviour between the two large airframers, and between the smaller ones too. This includes announcing, in decreasing levels of commitment and likelihood to happen, firm orders, memoranda of understanding, and letters of intent. The joke is, of course, that most anyone can sign a letter of intent, but both airframers take the race seriously.