Le Bourget, an air show of all challenges

Paris-Le Bourget becomes, this week, the world capital of aeronautics. After being canceled in 2021 due to the Covid-19 crisis, the 54th edition of the Paris Air Show (June 19-25) welcomes nearly 2,500 exhibitors, including 300 start-ups, from 47 countries. After France, with 1,130 companies and 10 regions, the United States forms the largest contingent with 400 exhibitors. A powerful signal of their strong comeback in Europe as the main arms suppliers to Ukraine against Russia, but also as major suppliers to European countries.

Inaugurated by Emmanuel Macron on Monday, the show is to receive 30 ministers, including 20 foreigners, as well as 300 official delegations from around a hundred guest countries. The event should beat all attendance records with more than 320,000 visitors - professionals and, from Friday, the general public - expected.

The 2023 edition is placed under the sign of the recovery in demand, after the shutdown, which had brought air transport to its knees and caused an almost existential crisis in aeronautical construction, during the Covid pandemic. The show also echoes the immense challenges - decarbonization of aircraft, increased production rates, recruitment, etc. - which the sector will have to face in the years to come. The show also has the war in Ukraine and the renewed geopolitical tensions as a backdrop, particularly in the China Sea and around the future of Taiwan. This is leading to a spectacular rise in military budgets in Europe after years of under-investment, but also in the rest of the world.

Finally, in the space field, this 54th edition reflects a contrasting situation. With, on the tail side, a Europe in full doubt, because deprived for several months of autonomous access to space, due to the delays of Ariane 6 and the unavailability of the small Italian rocket Vega C. But also, on the other side, a more proactive Europe, which has decided to equip itself with a sovereign constellation with Iris2, which has robbed the United States of its rank of world leader in Earth observation and which is teeming with New Space projects, in particular in minilaunchers, such as that of the French start-up Latitude. An unprecedented context for the big bosses of the sector. “After the severe disruption to our industry during the pandemic, the recovery is here. Air traffic has almost returned to pre-Covid-19 levels, and demand has rebounded. We can look to the future with confidence,” said Guillaume Faury, Executive Chairman of Airbus. According to the European giant, the market will need 40,450 new aircraft by 2042, in order to respond to the growth of air transport and the renewal of fleets. “We are living in an interesting time. I would never have imagined that the industry could rebound as quickly as it did,” said Dave Calhoun, CEO of Boeing.

Over the past six months, more than 2,000 planes have been ordered by airlines and lessors, notes the firm AlixPartners, in a study published in early June. “The market has seen the return of giant orders for hundreds of aircraft, driven by companies that want to renew their fleet, and others that have aggressive growth strategies, underlines Pascal Fabre, managing director at AlixPartners. in Paris. The Airbus and Boeing order books are solid and represent eight years of activity on average.”

After having suffered, in addition to the Covid-19, the 737 Max crisis, “Boeing is back and has returned to a positive dynamic”, estimates Olivier Andriès, CEO of Safran. Good news for the suppliers of the American giant, especially French, and for the market which does not want an overpowered Airbus. "Between Airbus and Boeing, it's a permanent game of chess, but there is never checkmate," adds the CEO of Safran.

Collapsing under orders, will Airbus and Boeing be able to deliver? This means succeeding in significantly increasing their production rates. “2023 and probably 2024 will still be difficult years”, warns Guillaume Faury. There are several reasons for this: the difficulty for suppliers, who are also put under pressure by the increase in production rates in the military, thanks in particular to the Rafale (164 combat aircraft in the order book), to follow and finance these increases in production . “When demand picks up, the supply chain tightens, it’s mechanical,” emphasizes Olivier Andriès. But there is also "the lack of personnel, as many employees left in 2020 and 2021, the problems of access to certain raw materials, exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, and the disorganization of global supply chains. This creates an explosive cocktail that affects everyone.

Mobilized on day-to-day operations, the players must, at the same time, take up "the formidable challenge of decarbonization and its financing", according to the expression of Patrice Caine, CEO of Thales. This is the fourth revolution in aeronautics after having succeeded in making an object heavier than air fly, flight safety and the democratization of air transport. Faced with this challenge, "we welcome the commitment of the President of the Republic and the State in support of the sector to amplify the transformation of the industry which already finances 80% of the research effort to decarbonize from its own funds. aviation, develops Patrice Caine. This is indeed not the time to disarm French aeronautics, a sector of excellence and world leader, while American groups are supported by funds from the Inflation Reduction Act (a 700 billion dollar plan, Ed. ). “It takes an intensive effort in R