The 53rd International Paris Airshow is being held at Le Bourget Airport on the outskirts of Paris this week. The show is one of the oldest and largest aviation air shows in the world.
On display will be the newest technologies of the aerospace industry and related equipment, such as aircraft engines, satellite navigation technology, aircraft cabins and seats and weapon systems.
Around 150 military and civil aircraft will be presented at the trade show which last for five days, including a number of flying displays in the afternoon.
The exhibition is accompanied by an extensive B2B meeting program. In 2017 around 2380 exhibitors were at the show from 48 countries.
The show is expected to attract more than 300,000 visitors.
Hot topics for this year’s show include Boeing’s response to the grounding of its 373 Max programme following two fatal crashes.
The European plane-maker Airbus has kicked off the 2019 International Paris Air Show with the launch of a long-range, single-aisle airliner and an announcement that they have agreed to sell 100 planes to the U.S. plane lessor Air Lease Corporation.
The Los Angeles based aircraft leasing company, has agreed 27 firm orders of the new Airbus A321XLR, 23 Airbus A321neos and 50 A220-300s.
Air Lease Corporation, founded from scratch in 2010, now has 387 Airbus aircraft and is the European plane maker’s third largest leasing customer.
At the same conference, Airbus unveiled details of its A321XLR – the latest evolution of the company’s hugely successful A320 series.
At a press conference Monday, Airbus claimed the plane now boasted the longest single-aisle plane range in the world at 4,700 nautical miles. The plane can take 244 passengers but on a long-range trip, the number of seats would reduce to about 200.
Airbus said the routes would now open up to operators who had an interest in flying routes such as India to Europe or China to Australia.
The chief commercial officer for Airbus, Christian Scherer, said the new plane would come with a newly designed fuel tank that could carry nearly as much fuel as a bigger twin-aisle plane.
No catalog price was offered for the plane but Scherer added that it had a “health commercial premium” over earlier versions.
The latest version of the XLR is entering an area of the market that the industry expected rival Boeing to address with the announcement of the NMA (New Midsize Aircraft), known alternatively as the 797.
Earlier Monday, Boeing poured cold water on any new plane announcement of its own but said it could “continue to work on the business case of the NMA.”
