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On the Record with
JOHN DOUGLASS, PRESIDENT & CEO, AEROSPACE INDUSTRIES ASSOCIATION
Airshows Will Shrink, But Not Go Away
"We don't want an airshow and we're not going to come if you have
one." And that, says John Douglass, helped put the kibosh on recent
efforts to establish an American version of Farnborough or Paris
in Dayton, Ohio.
A host of other factors are making the big international airshows
less important than they were, says the president and CEO of the
Washington-based Aerospace Industries Association.
 The
Internet and cheaper foreign travel are helping make airshows shorter
than they were in the past, and while emerging players from countries
like India and China may give such events a temporary boost in coming
years, the realization that few deals are really done at the shows
will minimize their long-term impact.
Pent-up demand from the reduced U.S. participation at Paris 2003
is helping this year's Farnborough, but it will be short-lived,
Douglass predicts.
"The market is saturated," he says. "We're cutting back on these
shows, reducing our presence across the board."
"The organizers have seen the handwriting, so they've cut back
too," Douglass told Show News.
Another factor is the long lead times for airliners,
which now have development cycles of 10 to 15 years. "The manufacturers
would like to see a less frequent schedule," Douglass says, rather
than feel obligated to attend either Paris or Farnborough every year.
Consolidation in the industry, with far fewer, albeit larger companies
able to participate in the technologically demanding aviation business,
hurts the shows too.
The over-riding concern, of course, is money. "The expense has
got to be more affordable or the show phenomenon is going to erode
more quickly," Douglass says.
He notes that while GIFAS in France and SBAC here make a large
portion of their annual operating money at Le Bourget and Farnborough,
"We don't really have any incentive as an organization to go to
these shows."
Less easy to quantify, but no less real, is the impact of public
days, Douglass acknowledges, as the flying spectacles stoke the
dreams of the pilots and engineers of tomorrow: "I don't think any
of these shows are going to go away," he concedes.
—Rich Piellisch
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AIA Makes It Easier
The Aerospace Industries Association may view extravaganzas
like Farnborough as a dying breed, but the Washington-based
trade group still does its part to help U.S. firms make a
showing at the events.
The fruit of AIA's labor, taking a big block of space and
then leasing it to smaller companies that might not otherwise
be here, may be seen at the 19-booth Aerospace USA Pavilion
in Hall 4 near the main doors.
Besides ready-to-use booths, exhibitors get access to a special
AIA conference room.
There will also be a reception Tuesday night at the U.S.
Embassy in London for AIA exhibitors, affording an opportunity
for American exhibitors "to meet high-ranking U.S. military
representatives, U.S. visitors to the show, and key regional
contacts." Sponsors include BAE Systems North America, Boeing,
DRS Technologies, EDO, Honeywell, Lockheed Martin, Northrop
Grumman, Pratt & Whitney, and Raytheon.
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