Article from BTNews 14 DECEMBER 2020
Air Show cancelled
Bowing to the inevitable.
The Paris Air Show 2021, scheduled for 21–27 June has been cancelled due to the continued uncertainty related to Covid-19.
The first Salon International de l'Aéronautique et de l'Espace (SIAE) was held in 1909 and the event has taken place every other year since – with interruptions for the two world wars. The 2021 edition was set to be the 54th.
The Board of Directors of the Paris Air Show and the Board of Directors of French aerospace industry association, Groupement des Industries Françaises Aéronautiques et Spatiales (GIFAS), made the decision unanimously, describing it as inevitable in a statement last Monday 7 December.
“This reasonable decision was agreed upon unanimously by the Paris Air Show board members in the context of a crisis that has had an unprecedented impact on the aerospace industry,” they said in a joint announcement.
It could well be that Farnborough 2022, with a late July date, will become the first major international aerospace exhibition since the outbreak of the pandemic. The 2020 event was cancelled.
www.siae.fr/en
www.gifas.fr/en
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John Davidson, France
Ever since 1975, "Le Bourget" has been one of my favorite events, providing you can get in for the press day, before opening. On that first occasion, the Russian SST was parked in front of the chalet where I was sitting. Two pilots walked up and got in, turned the keys and taxied to take-off, then returned. Aerospatiale's Concorde on the other hand, flew in from Toulouse, touched down, and took off. In any case we know where SST aircraft landed. Clients got used to taking the early-morning flights to NY and once the AF Concorde returned to service, its passengers didn't come back. It flew with experimental military engines, and the ones on a BA flight gave us a bump once (the buffers intended to brake the air coming in had broken) so they shifted to the backup. I commented to the passenger next to me that if the first ones broke, the second ones would, and they did. He then said, Curses! We won't make it to NY on time. Apparently my knowledge of the aircraft was better than his, and I told him that this aircraft was going to make it to NY. I had bought my first-class ticket in DXB, the travel agent offering a free upgrade to Concorde. I was going for a 10:30 am Friday appointment, then a 12:30 lunch,, a weekend in Connecticut, and back to Paris, refusing the upgrade on my way back. First class on a 747 is fine. In the end, however, BA wound up refunding all my fare, and of course gave me the miles. A good deal, if you don't mind missing appointments. (BTW, a Lebanese friend tells me "MEA" stands for "Miss Every Appointment". Only thing better was a ticket issued in Muscat on Gulf but crossing the Atlantic on AA in first class for $200 LESS than the same ticket without crossing the Atlantic. Totally amazing. But AA was really bad, insisting on my return from JFK to CDG that I needed a visa for France. How bad can it get? So they insisted I purchase a O/W ticket from Paris to somewhere like DXB, which I could get refunded immediately at the AA Paris office, which I could visualize. Problem was, AA had closed that office, so I had to post the ticket by registered mail to some place in Ireland. How bad can it get? AA, never again!