With orders for new aircraft buoyant, there was an optimistic outlook from the organisers of the Farnborough Airshow at its annual preview for exhibitors and press. New developments at the show aim to capitalise on this positive trend. Ed Hill reports.

Held at the modern surroundings of Farnborough’s impressive Hall 1, organisers of the 2024 edition of the Farnborough Airshow recently outlined some of the new developments and key features planned for the event.

Farnborough International CEO, Gareth Rogers began by commenting that this year’s event, staged under the label ‘The Apex of Aviation’ would likely attract more attention from global media given the world’s geopolitical climate, making it the ideal environment for exhibitors involved in the aerospace industry to display their latest products, services and advances.

In fact, with less than three months to go, Rogers was in the fortunate position to reveal that the show had already sold out all its available exhibition space and that the static display area was also fully occupied.

“Business is very strong at the moment in the aerospace sector and the fact that the show is already sold out demonstrates this,” he said. “We know it’s going to be a busy show and a great event.”

Over the last ten years Farnborough has generated more than US$570 billion worth of business demonstrating the economic importance of the event for the industry. To help facilitate more business transactions Farnborough International has invested in more meeting spaces where deals can be negotiated.

“This has been one of the big demands from our customers,” Rogers continued. “They want to be able to book rooms for an hour in a range of sizes and use smaller spaces rather than some of our existing larger ones that get taken up quickly.”

British trade focus

One of the biggest developments at this year’s show is the creation of a UK Government Hub. With a dedicated stand in Hall 3 in one of Farnborough’s soundproof stages, it’s specifically intended as a flagship to promote and facilitate UK Government business with the aerospace industry.

“For many years UK Government politicians and officials have come to the Farnborough Airshow, to see and discuss new commercial and military aircraft in front of the media and potential investors,” explained Farnborough International’s aerospace commercial director, Joe Muir. “The UK Government Hub will be a physical manifestation of the UK Government at the show in one place. The stand will be designed to be a multifunctional space that celebrates British culture and innovation and has the ability to host private meetings with individual pods.

“The intention is to allow joined up discussion across government and industry and to make the UK Government more accessible to visitors and exhibitors and to make business support easier. It also aims to help start-ups scale up their business and ultimately create skilled and high-paid jobs in a successful UK manufacturing sector. It is a strong statement of support from the Government to say the UK is open to aerospace business and build commercial relationships. We are very excited about this development.”

Discussion and debate

The Aerospace Global Forum (AGF) will also make a return to this year’s show following its first successful outing in 2022. Although scaled down from the previous event, with sessions now only taking place in the morning, the AGF is an industry wide conference intended to address some of the biggest issues that currently face the aerospace industry such as net zero, defence programmes, innovation and the future of flight.

“It’s a spearhead for thought leadership at the show, designed to bring global aerospace leaders together to discuss the issues that matter and focus on the debates that the industry wants to discuss and ultimately drive change,” Muir said. “2022 was a great success. We achieved a lot with new reports and new partnerships, but we have made some key changes for 2024 listening to our business customers.”

In a move to have a better balance between what visitors want to see and business engagement, Farnborough has reduced the number of conference sessions, but to still aims to maintain the impact and importance of debate around aerospace’s future challenges.

Held in dedicated theatres, FINN Sessions will be the main stage for the themes of the show with a full agenda of thought-leadership presentations and international speakers and panellists from across the aerospace and aviation industry, covering topics from sustainability and innovation to technology and the future of the workforce.

A catalyst for recruitment

Another major element of this year’s Farnborough Airshow is an initiative it has termed ‘Pioneers of Tomorrow’ aimed at attracting new blood and talent into the sector. An industry wide problem, for many years the aerospace sector has struggled to find the younger employees needed to sustain it.

This year’s recruitment drive will be targeted primarily at older school leavers, apprentices and graduates considering the aerospace industry as a career, as well as a focus on STEM topics for those at school.

“For Farnborough, Pioneers of Tomorrow is about a meaningful and proactive contribution to this challenge to inspire young people into aerospace,” added Muir. “There’s no better way to do this than to immerse future generations in what our sector has to offer. There are some fantastic technologies and innovations exhibited at the Farnborough Airshow, and we need to leverage that to attract young people into the industry.” 

Once again Farnborough will also feature a Space Zone located at its second soundproof stage to exhibit the latest innovations and developments in this fast-growing area of the industry.

A greener scene 

Lastly, Rogers used the event to launch Farnborough Airshow’s Sustainability Charter, outlining how the event will aim to be as green as possible. This includes an intention that all commercial aircraft participating in the flying display will use Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), passes will be printed offsite by attendees, and that all waste generated at the show should be zero to landfill. He revealed that the Farnborough site had also invested in installing solar panels on the roof of Hall 1 meaning that some recent shows held at the exhibition centre had been held separately from the UK grid by producing their own power.

“Of course, running an airshow does have an environmental impact, but sustainability is very important to us and to the industry,” he concluded. “We want to make Farnborough as green as we can, and we want to help our exhibitors also make more sustainable choices. We will continue to invest over the next 5-10 years to achieve this.

“The Farnborough Airshow is a great chance for our exhibitors to amplify their message to the industry. We want our exhibitors to have a successful show and we want to help them as much as we can in their Farnborough journey.”

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