Air exhibitions have come a long way from the first ever gathering of aviators in the post war years ready to swap stories and share information. Venues like Farnborough and Le Bourget have a magical quality about them as they evoke an abiding sense of aviation history. Today, Singapore and Dubai have matured into the elite Airshow Club and China, Latin America, the Far East, India and the European circuit are all involved in the bi-annual bash. The only doubt raised could be whether so many venues are not leading to a certain neutralising effect in that they cancel themselves out.

Airshows are a reaffirmation of faith. What with the A380 now on song , the 787 Dreamliner making its presence felt the resurrection of the 747-400 in a fresh avatar and the head on clash between two families in a feud that could be a game show in itself it’s good selling fun. The 320 family versus the 737 is the biggest commercial aviation war of all time and the one real battle for supremacy. The rest is a bit of bunting. 

The neat little point is that neither Airbus nor Boeing want more than 50 percent of the market. Besides their constant feuding for the benefit of the media there is a tacit understanding that grabbing too large a share of the market could mean a bottleneck in deliveries, huge costs in setting up the shops and the domino effect of delays including penalties.

If there is a gap it is in the great divide now between the United States and Europe. This is neither a pleasantly competitive ‘friendly’ nor is it circumscribed by any rules.

And sent out the message that flying is safer than ever before. The projections for the next 10 years will endure. Fractional ownership programmes will increase. Premium travel will improve. Airports will become more efficient and mobility will be enhanced. Flying will be safer that the pursuit of failsafe will continue.

Meanwhile, there will be some talk on security as an issue and this has to be tackled against the backdrop of the buying and selling and the spattering of sales announcements which mark air shows. A huge sum of money has been allocated by the industry to this subject and its implementation on a world basis. It is also vital that at such a venue a certain lower limit of ground security be made imperative by the canopy bodies like IATA and ICAO so that lax airports are taken out of the network. The industry cannot afford to bleed away its financial viability into security if member nations and carriers do not impose their own set of rules on themselves.

The one negative aspect of aviation security is that it is as strong as its weakest link and if aircraft fly from adequate airports to inadequate ones then there is always cause for concern.