Le Bourget The 47th running of the biennial Paris Air Show closed as it always does. Huge crowds on the public days of the last weekend, an air display of fighter and commercial aircraft, and dozens of vendors hawking baseball caps, t-shirts, jackets, refrigerator magnets, and plush toys with the air show’s logo plastered on them. This year’s air show motif was a sign of how the industry views itself in the present day. Instead of going for some ultra-modern looking, space age logo that looks like the trademark of some hi-tech corporate behemoth, the show used a set of simple drawings that looked like cartoon aeroplanes and rocketships from a pre-schooler’s coloring book. It is appropriate because in the aftermath of up and down fuel costs, the ripple effects on the commercial airline industry following 9/11, and the troubles at Europe’s Airbus the overall attitude of the industry is almost that of childlike optimism. “I have never seen the aerospace industry in general so upbeat,” said one executive from France’s Dassault Aviation. “It is as if people believe all of these troubles are now behind us.” Many of the difficulties that the last few years have brought to aerospace firms worldwide may now be finished, but there are a number of potential pitfalls ahead.
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