Positive Signs at Farnborough Air Show

The Farnborough International Air Show is one of the world's most iconic global aviation events, held in Farnborough, England every two years. The show kicked off yesterday, July 19th with a day of conferences, seminars and exhibitor presentations. With a record-breaking $88.7 billion worth of orders announced during the show's last appearance in July 2008, many are wondering what the show will bring this year given the recent economic setbacks of the past year.

The show is reported to be off to a good start, with Boeing and Airbus bringing in billions of dollars worth of aircraft sales on Monday, a seemingly positive message to the global economy. Many industry watchers consider the FIA show to be a key test of the industry's health so many are watching closely to see how the rest of the week will unfold. With more than 1,000 exhibitors (only down slightly from the 1,393 from the 2008 show) and delegations from Egypt, Taiwan and Morocco for the first time, many believe that the show may be a sign of the market starting to turn.

The AP reports, "There is a renewed enthusiasm to look forward again among the airlines," said Howard Wheeldon, a senior strategist at BGC Partners, who upped his forecast for commercial plane orders at the show to 400 from 300 after the early bust of announcements Monday morning.

Boeing Commercial Airplanes President Jim Albaugh said the market "has come back faster than we expected" and the Chicago-based company has twice raised its internal forecasts for the number of orders at the biennial show.

Still, some stay cautious about the near-term outlook, such as Bombardier Commercial Aircraft President Gary Scott, saying that airlines needed to be sure they could sustain recent post-crisis gains before had they "balance sheet and courage to order airplanes in significant quantities again."

Regardless, it seems as though all eyes will be closely on the turnout of this massive show. Time will tell if the initial rush of orders is truly a sign of the start to recovery for the aerospace industry.

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Learn more about the Farnborough International Air Show.