Farnborough International Airshow has been going for over 75 years and boasts average attendances of 80,000 - 100,000 who flock to see 1500 aviation, defence and space sector exhibitors from across the globe, as well as dizzying flying displays by the best pilots in the world. Insider editor Saptarshi Ray makes a flying visit to the event.
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00:00Hello, and welcome to Farmory International Airshow, where, as usual, there are hundreds
00:17of stallholders from the realms of defense, aerospace, aeronautical engineering, space
00:23research, and so on, as well as commercial and military aircraft of all descriptions
00:27here today.
00:28So, hopefully, we'll give you a bit of a tour around the exhibition itself, as well as speaking
00:31to a few stallholders, and hopefully get a few minutes from one of the organizers to
00:35tell us exactly what is cooking this year.
00:38Absolutely fantastic.
00:40We are actually sold out for the first time in years, and we're expecting record numbers
00:46through the doors.
00:47So, it's been really, really good.
00:49I know it's only day two, but we've already seen some really big announcements, $51 billion
00:54yesterday and another big announcement today for about $17 billion.
00:57That's phenomenal.
00:59And I was going to say, Farmory Airshow has been going, what, 75 years?
01:02Obviously, none of us have been here that long, but in terms of the changing sort of
01:06nature of the show, how have you found that in the last few years?
01:08Well, it's really reflective of industry.
01:10It depends what is going on in industry and going on in the world, and obviously, there's
01:13an increase in defense represented here due to the ongoing political situation, geopolitical
01:18situations in the world, but we're seeing a massive increase in space and, in particular,
01:23sustainability as well.
01:28Hi there, I'm with Andrew Greenhash, Air of Surrey Satellite Technology, in the space
01:37zone of the Farmory International Airshow.
01:39Andrew, how long has space been a big part of the airshow?
01:44I've been coming for the last 12 years to this show, and it's grown and grown since
01:47that time.
01:48I mean, when I first came 12 years ago, there wasn't even a space zone, but now it's got
01:51bigger and bigger and bigger, and this is the biggest it's ever been.
01:54And have you found, over the time that you've been coming, that the sort of the crowds and
01:57the demographics and maybe some of the exhibitors and storeholders have changed over that time?
02:01Yeah, definitely.
02:02It's become a bit more of a trade show.
02:04It used to be more of an air show, but now, in the time I've been coming, it's more of
02:07a trade show, a lot more focus on international delegations, a lot more focus on potential
02:12suppliers coming to talk to us about whether they can supply us.
02:15But it's always been busy, and the final day on the Friday will be a bit of a free-for-all
02:19where the public will be coming in, so that's always useful as well.
02:22We use that to talk to the youngsters about a career in space industry and what they can
02:26do working with SSTL.
02:27Mark, as an international company, how important is Farnborough International Airshow to you?
02:37It's critical to us.
02:38It's important for us to meet with our global partners.
02:41We have customers and suppliers, you know, across the globe, so it's important for us
02:45to be here, to be able to meet with them face-to-face, develop those relationships and see how we
02:50can grow together.
02:52Yeah, I think the prospects are good.
02:56We're always following our customers, where they go.
02:59Certainly the UK has a robust aerospace industry.
03:03We want to be where our customers are, so the prospects are very good that we will be
03:06doing more and more business in the UK.