US aerospace industry lobbying group the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) is campaigning against holding an international air show every year in Europe, and predicts that attendance at the Farnborough and Paris air shows will drop significantly from 2004.
"The aerospace industry thinks there is already too many air shows. If we could make Paris or Farnborough go away, we would. We would like one air show in either city every two years," says AIA vice-president of international affairs Joel Johnson. "Singapore and Dubai and the Chilean air shows are every two years… so you have three major regional shows in a two-year cycle, but Europe once a year."
AIA says the largest US manufacturers could cut their attendance at the European shows by up to 50% from 2004.
Source: Flight International