Heavy rain puts a dampener on first day of the Farnborough International Airshow

The Farnborough International Airshow got off to a dismal start on the first day of the seven-day event, with the afternoon’s flying display cancelled and the early closing of the airshow owing to the bad weather. While apologizing for the closure, the organizers made it clear the decision was made solely on the grounds of safety, adding that the day’s tickets would be valid again on Tuesday.
The biennial event is held on even and alternate years to the Paris Airshow and follows a similar format. This year it is understood there are in excess of 1,500 exhibitors and overall visitor numbers are still anticipated to exceed 100,000. The first four days of the show are reserved for commercial visitors, while the last three days are open to the general public, with daily aerial displays performed by appropriate aircraft.
The show is seen as one of the world’s premier commercial aviation events and is viewed very much as a shop window for manufacturers and buyers alike. In 2014 alone orders for a record US$204bn in aircraft were placed. This year over 90 aircraft will be on display from in excess of 40 manufacturers. Principal manufacturers and their aircraft include the Antonov AN178, the Airbus A400M, A380, A350 and A321neo, the Boeing 787 and 737 MAX8, Bombardier’s heavily refinanced C-Series as well as the Q400 and CRJ1000, Dassault’s Falcon 7x, the Embraer E190 E2, ERJ135 and Legacy 500, Gulfstream’s G650, G550 and G450 and Superjet International’s Sukhoi Superjet 100.
The show is also home once again this year to the Skytrax World Airline Awards, which is seen as particularly relevant and highly prestigious within the airline industry as the awards are voted for by members of the public. As a consequence, airlines from across the globe will be in attendance, including but not limited to Lufthansa, Thai Airways Air France, ANA, Emirates, AirAsia, Turkish Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Norwegian and Qatar Airways.
Referring to the awards, Chief Executive of Farnborough International, Shaun Ormrod, said, “We’re delighted that Skytrax is hosting the World Airline Awards at Farnborough again and we look forward to welcoming the good and the great of the Airline industry as well as the numerous companies that support it. As the global aerospace industry gathers here at Farnborough it is only fitting that we should celebrate its successes here with these awards.”