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Farnborough International Airshow 2024

27/07/202428/07/2024 Paolo Valpolini Farnborough International Airshow 2024, FIA2024

The biannual Farnborough International Airshow attracted over 1,200 exhibitors from 44 countries, and featured 27 international country pavilions. There were 52 aircraft in the static park but only 15 were military aircraft but none were shown for the first time at a UK airshow. On an average day there were some 20 aircraft taking part in the flying display, again only few were making their debut although the most impressive was the Qatari F-15QA Ababil which was delivered to Doha after the show. The only other aircraft taking part at FIA2024 flying display for the first time was the Turkish Aerospace T625 Gökbey twin-engine medium helicopter.

Nearly all of these had taken part in the much larger military flying displays at the Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) at RAF Fairford over the three days that preceded the start of Farnborough.

FIA2024 was dominated by the competition between Airbus and Boeing, both of which announced orders for hundreds of their latest commercial airliners. One of the few military contract announced during the show was an order for nine Embraer C-390 Millennium tactical transport aircraft for the Dutch and Austrian air forces, and six Embraer A-29 Super Tucanos for the Paraguayan Air Force.

Apart from confirmation by the new government’s commitment to the trinational Global Combat Aircraft Programme (GCAP), one of the most significant announcements at the show was made by Leonardo’s launch of the M-346 Block 20 Capability Enhancement Programme of its advanced trainer and light attack aircraft.

However, the argument remains as to whether prime defence industries will support both RIA and FIA in the same year. We will have to wait until 2026 before this is resolved.

Scrolling down this entry our readers will find the articles from the EDR On-Line team on the main subjects seen at Farnborough.