Paris Air Show Haunted By Jet Crash, Economy

Gloomy aviation leaders gather for the Paris Air Show on Monday expecting limited new business to bolster an industry mourning the AIr France jet disaster, economic crisis and new concerns about swine flu.

The world's largest aviation showcase attracts dealmakers from the aircraft and arms industries every two years to sign contracts and network under the roar of military jets -- but this year's show is certain to be a much more subdued event.

The heads of both Airbus and Boeing, fierce rivals in the USD$60 billion commercial jet market, gave separate reassurances at the weekend over the safety of air travel after the crash of an Air France A330 Airbus with 228 people on board earlier this month.

Investigators say it is too early to say what caused the crash but have disclosed evidence of inconsistent data from speed sensors on the Airbus plane, which Boeing CEO Jim McNerney commended as a "reliable and proven" airliner.

"It is safe to say that the aviation community is still (in) some shock," Airbus CEO Tom Enders told a briefing ahead of the June 15-21 air show at Le Bourget.

The air transport industry has been battered by a slump in the economy coupled with weakened credit. Together these have cast doubt on the ability of airlines to pay for the roughly USD$800 billion of planes on order following a previous order boom.

Pressure mounted on Sunday when Britain recorded its first death from H1N1 swine flu, three days after the World Health Organization declared an influenza pandemic.

The emergence of the virus in April triggered a worldwide health scare and accelerated sharp falls in passenger travel.

ORDERS LESS RELEVANT

Group of Eight finance ministers meeting in Italy at the weekend said the world's leading economies were stabilizing but that recovery from the credit crisis remained shaky.

Both Boeing and Airbus said there few signs so far of any recovery in aerospace, which is a leading export industry for the United States and European Union.

Whether the two rivals in commercial aerospace manage to net orders this week is seen as something of a sideshow since their order books are bulging with undelivered planes.

"When you have got 7,000 planes on the backlog, new sales aren't relevant. It is about convincing people to take delivery," Richard Aboulafia, Vice President at US aerospace consultancy Teal Group, said.

"It is out of the hands of Airbus and Boeing and in the hands of the traveling public, who are voting with their feet and not getting on planes or buying tickets," he added.

Qatar Airways is expected to provide one of the few new orders at the show but there are doubts whether it needs to add to the 114 wide-body jets it has ordered from Airbus and Boeing.

Among those seen likely to do well at the show are jet engine makers, who are busy selling engines to power jets previously ordered by airlines in stronger markets two years ago.

As usual, the week-long show will give a chance for military commands to show off their best and latest hardware in the hope of grabbing export orders or increasing their prestige.

This year will see an unusual stand-off between ex-Cold War superpowers. The United States will display its most advanced warplane, the Lockheed Martin F-22, for the first time over French soil, while Russia will show off its first passenger jet since the fall of the Soviet Union -- the Superjet.

The 75-95 seat Superjet, assembled by Sukhoi in a converted wing of a top secret fighter factory in Russia's Far East, has been painted as a bid to assert Russia's industrial renewal.

Built with French and Italian investment, its arrival upstages delayed Western projects like the Boeing 787 Dreamliner whose maiden flight is not expected until after the air show.