By Sangeeta Saxena

Le Bourget. 18 June 2019. Day 2 at Paris Air Show saw Boeing bouncing back into the fray as International Airlines Group (IAG) signed a letter of intent to order 200 Boeing 737 Max aircraft. Any firm order would be split between the 737 Max 8 and the Max 10, although exact numbers were not disclosed. The group has a combined brand portfolio which includes  the British Airways and reiterated its faith in Boeing’s planes despite the recent set backs the American major faced. In addition Korean Air committed to purchasing 10 new Boeing 787-10s and 10 additional 787-9s and Air Lease committed to purchase five 787-9s.

The story for Airbus kept getting bigger with IAG also ordering 14 A321XLRs, eight for Iberia and six are for Aer Lingus,  Cebu pacific ordering 31 airplanes, Saudi Arabian Airlines ordering 30 Airbus A320neo-family aircraft and adding 35 options along with a firm order for 15 A321XLRs, Delta Air Lines ordering five  A220-100 aircraft and Atlantic Airways signing a purchase agreement for two A320neo aircraft. AirAsia converted 253 orders for the A320neo to the larger A321neo version.

For the Embraer which like Airbus is also celebrating its fiftieth year since inception  the day has been good with Spanish carrier Binter ordering two additional Embraer E195-E2s and Japanese Carrier Fuji Dream Airlines ordering two E175.

And ATR was not to be left behind as Nordic Aviation Capital inked a letter of intent to purchase 35 firm ATR72-600s, with options for a further 35 and purchase rights for another 35.

TAAG Angola Airlines placed an order for six DeHavilland Canada Q400 aircraft, produced by manufacturer Viking Air after the type’s acquisition from Bombardier thereby opening their innings at the show.

The engine industry especially the CFM International had a field day with airlines  vying to make it their engine of choice. IndiGo placed a massive USD 20 billion order with CFM  Leap 1A engines to power 280 A320neo and A321neo aircraft. This is the world’s largest order for engines to date. The contract also includes spare engines and overhaul support agreement.

Avolon selected it for 70 Airbus A320neo aircraft, Asia finalised a deal for 200 LEAP-1A engines to power 100 A321neos, Macquarie Air finance finalized an order for an unspecified number of LEAP engines worth $588 million at list prices and SMBC Aviation Capital ordered 40 LEAP-1A engines. Pratt & Whitney  got an order from an undisclosed lessor for PW1100G to power 35 A320neo-family aircraft on firm order and five on option and from an  undisclosed airline  an order for 28 A320neo-family aircraft. Rolls-Royce and Singapore Airlines have agreed on a “co-innovation” deal that builds on the existing relationship between the two firms to identify untapped opportunities to enhance flight efficiency, safety and aircraft availability through digital applications and services. It also launches a working partnership between the companies through which they will use a secure digital platform to collaborate on the creation of aviation-specific digital solutions.

The  market of the unmanned attracted a lot of attention. The United State Air Force’s acquisitions chief announced the service is looking into buying 20-30 XQ-58A Valkyrie drones.  Raytheon has announced a partnership with counter-drone specialist Black Sage to provide an integrated drone detection and mitigation system for civil authorities, critical infrastructure and military organizations.

 Training as an industry has become a fore runner and is no longer a back seat driver. And Paris Air show just proved that. Canada’s CAE formed a joint venture with Guangdong Aerocity for flight simulators. Air France Industries KLM Engineering & Maintenance and Airbus have formed a technical and commercial partnership to co-develop and manage a virtual engine run-up A320 maintenance PC-based training solution. Applicable to all A320 engine types, it will use high definition immersive 3D simulation and will be based on real operational scenarios and in-service aircraft maintenance procedures. Leonardo and PWN Excellence (PWNE) are expanding their established partnership in Malaysia for the provision of advanced training services and announced the extension of the Authorised Synthetic Training Centre (ASTC) agreement, currently for the AW139 helicopter, to include AW189 Full Flight Simulator (FFS) services. By the end of 2020 PWNE will incorporate a second Level D roll on/off Full Flight Simulator system allowing both AW139 and AW189 pilot training.

The day saw fighters, transporters, helicopters and drones flying in the sky above the show and attracted the maximum attention as always. So bye for now. Will keep giving you the daily highlights from Le Bourget.