A two-part celebration is the rhythm of the Paris Air and Space Show at Le Bourget, which is held in odd-numbered years. The alternation is strictly respected with the homologous exhibition in London, but which is not the equivalent. Indeed, the British give up the general public days on weekends and its flight demonstrations.
At Le Bourget, from Monday to Thursday, we work on contracts, we make contacts with partners among the 2,500 exhibitors, we prospect for customers, we come across nearly three hundred military delegations around the 150 aircraft on the ground… The influx of professional visitors is comparable to those of pre-Covid editions. The harvest is not correct, it is exceptional: what was once counted in hundreds of orders this year amounts to thousands…
On the third day of the 2023 show, Airbus would thus total 846 orders, options and commitments. Four years ago, the company collected 363 orders, option activations and purchase commitments. Note that the 750 Indian orders for the A320 are accompanied by thousands of Leap engines made 50% in France at Safran. At Boeing, the total would include 356 orders, option activations and other commitments, compared to 292 at the end of the 53rd edition of the Paris Air Show in 2019. We can consider that this is the assessment of this 54th edition, transactions no longer occurring after Wednesday.
ADAV (electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft) or eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing), or more prosaically electric helicopters, the newcomers to aeronautics totaled some 360 orders and purchase intentions from the second day of the Show . Mainly for ADAVs, as well as some light hybrid-electric aircraft. It is difficult to compare these contracts with those signed by Airbus and Boeing. These ADAVs are often only virtual projects or aircraft.
The controls are equally virtual, conditioned to the technical reality of the device; while the Airbus A220 or A350, and the Boeing 737 or 777 are omnipresent on the tarmac at Le Bourget and widely used during in-flight presentations. On the other hand, the budgets in question are not of the same order. These are billions of dollars for orders for airliners and millions are mentioned for hybrid or electric vehicles when there are actually advances paid.
Note that Airbus will fly almost everything in its fleet of aircraft, including the A400M military transport. Among the latest aircraft will be the A350-1000, the A330neo, the highly anticipated A321 XLR, the Dassault Falcon 6X, the Embraer 195-E2 and the Embraer C90 Millenium freighter, or the Gulfstream G650. In-flight presentations start around 1:30 p.m. and last about four hours.
Here are some milestones to guide your visit:
The Paris Air Mobility space, hall 5, did not exist four years ago. Neither did the technologies of the aircraft shown, or would have been classified in the realm of science fiction. On a space of 1,000 square meters are gathered seven prototypes of eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing) among the most successful. A first in an exhibition space. “Today there are a dozen electric aircraft ready to take off in the skies of our cities. All are presented at Paris Air Mobility. It’s a world first! explains Patrick Daher, General Commissioner of the Paris Air Show. With the exception of Volocopter’s VoloCity with a pilot on board, eVTOLs, and drones in general, are not presented in flight at Le Bourget, an area enclosed in the city and very close to Roissy.
Archer Aviation and Stellantis (Peugeot-Citroën-Fiat, etc.) will share progress towards serial production of Archer’s Midnight eVTOL aircraft and preparation for commercialization scheduled for 2025. Boeing subsidiary Wisk Aero , will present its fully electric autonomous air taxi.
The Prosperity I is an electric aircraft designed with designer Frank Stephenson. AutoFlight is one of the few eVTOL manufacturers to have mastered the complex transition phase from vertical to horizontal flight many times over, paving the way for sustainable, efficient and reliable passenger transport and logistics systems.
This is the fifth edition of L’Avion des Métiers, hall Concorde, which allows you to meet professionals in the sector to discuss their jobs, the contribution to the ecological and energy transformation of the sector.
Seventeen aeronautical design, production and maintenance professions are presented by around forty professionals in the sector who take turns throughout the week to share their passion.
L’Avion des Métiers is also about forty schools, high schools, CFA and universities with aeronautical and space courses at all levels, which provide the keys to access to trades and jobs in the sector.
Finally, it is a program of events, testimonials and conferences on the challenges of human resources in the sector, its feminization, its diversity and its inclusion.
This is the theme of the campaign organized for the three days of the show open to the general public. Engineering, production, maintenance… in 2022, more than 18,000 recruitments were made and thousands of jobs created. This year, 25,000 hires are planned, from CAP to bac 8 (including 7,000 work-study programs), to meet the demand for a dynamically growing sector. Aéro Recrute is an opportunity for candidates to come and meet recruiters from exhibiting companies, and discuss with all the trades in the sector – from engineering to production, including maintenance. In coordination with Pôle Emploi, the HR departments of 200 companies receive candidates.
For its third edition, Paris Air Lab proposes to enter the heart of the new revolution in air transport, mobilized in the face of the challenge of decarbonization. A scenography shows the innovations in progress on technologies, air operations, non-fossil energy sources, but also the new face of the industrial sectors that accompany this change.
This is an opportunity to take stock of an entire international ecosystem – industrialists, researchers, energy companies – committed to charting the best technological path towards the aircraft of tomorrow, turning the page on fossil fuels, writing new routes for the sky, and shape the future of our industries. A series of round tables provide insight into key topics, such as the conditions for the transition to non-fossil energies, and sessions are dedicated to European programs or emerging players – including a pitch session for start-ups working on the issue of decarbonization.
The Paris Air Show gives start-ups the opportunity to forge meetings and synergies on prospective themes: environment, new on-board energies, digital technologies, big data, artificial intelligence, new space, factory of the future, new materials, vehicle of the future, passenger experience… 296 start-ups from 21 countries are welcomed. This initiative allows a real dynamic through the proliferation and effervescence of exchanges. Two spaces are dedicated (halls 2 and 5).
Flying Whales is at the origin of a unique program in the world, the LCA60T, an airship for the transport of heavy loads whose maiden flight is scheduled for 2025. A suspended model more than 3 meters long and a podium with a view from the top of the future Flying Whales factory in New Aquitaine are on display (hall 2A, 228).
Flying Care is the name given to a division of Flying Whales that focuses on transporting a mobile hospital. It will be able to provide care to people living in poorly served and isolated areas of the world or inaccessible areas after an ecological disaster (floods during a dam failure, etc.).
This Anglo-Saxon competition took place for the first time in France in 2010, open to young people from sixth to final year, in clubs or in schools. The objective is to build a mini-rocket which must reach a fixed height of 259 meters, and carry a (raw) egg which must return intact to the ground with a parachute. The international final is held on Thursday and Friday.
A discreet family aeronautical group with a turnover of 1.3 billion euros, Daher is both an aircraft manufacturer, a global logistics partner and an industry supplier with associated services. In Tarbes, Daher took over the range of TBM single-turboprop aircraft, which had been launched by Aerospatiale itself (buyer of Morane-Saulnier). These mono-turboprops are among the fastest in the world. Currently in production, the TBM 910 has been upgraded to state-of-the-art digital TBM 960. Among others, the engine, Pratt
This same PT6 turbine equips the Kodiak, an American utility aircraft designed and built by Quest Aircraft, of which Daher also took control. This rustic aircraft (400 km/h, 9 hours autonomy, 10 seats) with high wing, non-pressurized, fixed tricycle landing gear possibly with floats, is suitable for operations such as parachute drops, humanitarian missions from brief aerodromes. The 900 version, elongated, is presented at Le Bourget.
Designed by Daher, Safran and Airbus, with the support of Corac (Council for civil aeronautical research) and the DGAC, EcoPulse is presented in front of the Paris Air Lab pavilion. This distributed hybrid propulsion aircraft demonstrator with several electric motors each driving a propeller, is made from a TBM cell. It is one of the major collaborative projects of the French aeronautics sector to meet the objectives of decarbonization of air transport by 2050.
Four years ago, Elixir Aircraft only presented a prototype and had around thirty employees. Today, the French aircraft manufacturer is planning to equip its single-engine engine with a turbine, opening up the market for training professional pilots and is aiming for a thousand employees.
With its two-seater aircraft, the company offers a new design based on innovative technologies such as the OneShot Carbon cell. This method of manufacturing in an autoclave, derived from competition sailing, makes it possible to simplify the main structure of the aircraft. In preview of the Paris Air Show, visiting Safran, in Villaroche near Melun, the President of the Republic announced a series of aid and investments for the sector. One of the first beneficiaries to be revealed is Elixir Aircraft, which is receiving state aid of 13 million euros. This financing should enable the manufacturer to create a new production unit at La Rochelle airport, which will eventually employ a thousand people.
Based on data compiled by Air
Active aircraft are those in service in the armies or in airlines as opposed to ancestors and collection aircraft.
Friday, June 23 (19 aircraft)
“Active Aircraft”
A400M – Tactical transport aircraft, presented by the Air Force and Space (A400M Tactical display).
Alphajet – Patrouille de France (AAE)
Atlantique 2 – Maritime Patrol Aircraft, presented by the French Navy
F-16 Fighting Falcon – Combat aircraft, presented by the Air Component (“Belgian Air Force”, aircraft #FA-87, Dream Viper).
F-35A Lightning II – F-35 Demo Team, presented by the US Air Force.
H-160 – Medium transport helicopter, presented by Airbus.
H-665 Tiger – Reconnaissance and combat helicopter, presented by ALAT (Army Light Aviation).
NH-90 – Medium Lift Helicopter, presented by NH Industries.
PC-21 – Mustang X-Ray Demo Team (AAE)
Rafale – Air and Space Force combat aircraft (Rafale Solo Display).
“Oldtimers and Collector Aircraft”
Stearman – Trainer aircraft presented by Aviation 46.
F-4U-5NL Corsair – Combat aircraft, presented by Les Casques de Cuir.
AD-4N Skyraider – Attack aircraft, presented by FFWM.
H75 Hawk – Combat aircraft, presented by Stephen Gray.
MD 311 Flamant – Dassault training and liaison aircraft, presented by Les Ailes Anciennes.
OV-10 Bronco – Reconnaissance and ground attack aircraft.
P-51 Mustang – Combat aircraft, presented by Aero Vintage Academy.
Supermarine Spitfire Mk. XIV – Combat aircraft, presented by Aero Vintage Academy.
T-28 Trojan – Trainer aircraft, presented by Aero Vintage Academy.
Saturday June 24 (20 aircraft)
“Active Aircraft”
A400M Tactical display
Alphajet – Patrouille de France (AAE)
Atlantic 2 – Maritime Patrol Aircraft
Eurofighter Typhoon – Combat aircraft, presented by the Ejército del Aire y del Espacio (Spanish Air and Space Force, EAE).
F-16 Fighting Falcon
F-35A Lightning II
H-160 – Medium transport helicopter, presented by Airbus.
H-665 Tiger – Reconnaissance and combat helicopter, presented by ALAT (Army Light Aviation).
NH-90 – Medium Lift Helicopter, presented by NH Industries.
PC-21 – Mustang X-Ray Demo Team (AAE)
Rafale – Air and Space Force combat aircraft (Rafale Solo Display).
“Oldtimers and Collector Aircraft”
Stearman – Trainer aircraft presented by Aviation 46.
F-4U-5NL Corsair – Combat aircraft, presented by Les Casques de Cuir.
AD-4N Skyraider – Attack aircraft, presented by FFWM.
H75 Hawk – Combat aircraft, presented by Stephen Gray.
MD 311 Flamant – Dassault training and liaison aircraft, presented by Les Ailes Anciennes.
OV-10 Bronco – Reconnaissance and ground attack aircraft.
P-51 Mustang – Combat aircraft, presented by Aero Vintage Academy.
Supermarine Spitfire Mk. XIV – Combat aircraft, presented by Aero Vintage Academy.
T-28 Trojan – Trainer aircraft, presented by Aero Vintage Academy.
Sunday, June 25 (20 aircraft)
“Active Aircraft”
A400M Tactical display
Alphajet – Patrouille de France (AAE)
Atlantic 2 – Maritime Patrol Aircraft
Eurofighter Typhoon – Combat aircraft, presented by the Ejército del Aire y del Espacio (Spanish Air and Space Force, EAE).
F-16 Fighting Falcon –
F-35A Lightning II
H-160 – Medium transport helicopter, presented by Airbus.
H-665 Tiger – Reconnaissance and combat helicopter, presented by ALAT (Army Light Aviation).
NH-90 – Medium Lift Helicopter, presented by NH Industries.
PC-21 – Mustang X-Ray Demo Team (AAE)
Rafale – Air and Space Force combat aircraft (Rafale Solo Display).
“Oldtimers and Collector Aircraft”
Stearman – Trainer aircraft presented by Aviation 46.
F-4U-5NL Corsair – Combat aircraft, presented by Les Casques de Cuir.
AD-4N Skyraider – Attack aircraft, presented by FFWM.
H75 Hawk – Combat aircraft, presented by Stephen Gray.
MD 311 Flamant – Dassault training and liaison aircraft, presented by Les Ailes Anciennes.
OV-10 Bronco – Reconnaissance and ground attack aircraft.
P-51 Mustang – Combat aircraft, presented by Aero Vintage Academy.
Supermarine Spitfire Mk. XIV – Combat aircraft, presented by Aero Vintage Academy.
T-28 Trojan – Trainer aircraft, presented by Aero Vintage Academy.