If you can imagine the Paris Air Show as a stock market then what happened at this year’s event (held from June 15 to 21) was nothing less than a rally, spurred by unexpectedly strong sales activity. With the worldwide economy still in the grasp of the largest downturn since the Great Depression in the 1930s, most observers had predicted slim pickings at this year’s show. In fact, the bottom line looked a lot better than expected, with total announced sales fast approaching $30 billion–though this must be compared with order tallies announced on the international airshow circuit counted in the hundreds of billions of dollars over the past five or six years.
It would be irresponsible and groundless to suggest that the aerospace sector turned a corner in Paris. The grave uncertainties over economic fundamentals were certainly not swept aside by a relatively upbeat show. For all the wishful thinking, none of the experts assembled in Paris could offer any definitive conclusions as to whether the industry has yet reached the long anticipated bottom of the down cycle.
