Over 75,000 visitors were expected over the course of the five-day event in the small British town southeast of London. With Royal Air Force flyovers, and more than 1,200 exhibitors, it’s sure to be a busy week.

Over the next five days, all the events taking place will be covered in daily roundup articles, so be sure to check back each evening. In this article, we take a look at all the events occurring on the first day of the show, as well as a small press conference with executives at Boeing. 

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Boeing’s Pre-Airshow Press Conference 

At a press conference in London on the day before the show began, Boeing Commercial Aircraft CEO Stephanie Pope shared key details on the company. In response to questions regarding the impact on Boeing’s production, Pope claimed that Boeing had managed to increase production on its 737s and 787s. 

Pope, who recently took the helm of Boeing commercial aircraft due to the resignation of its former leader, claimed that she had key priorities to address when taking leadership. These included culture at the company, production, and quality. 

Korean Air Renews Long-Haul Fleet 

Korean Air announced at a press conference that they were ordering additional long-haul aircraft to its fleet.

The order consisted of 20 Boeing 777-9s, and 20 Boeing 787-10s, with a further 10 Boeing 787s being optional. Korean Air CEO Walter Cho claimed that these additional aircraft tied in nicely with the Airbus A350-1000s ordered earlier this year.

When questioned on when the aircraft would be delivered, Cho said Korean Air was looking at 2028 as the first delivery slot.

Japan Airlines Orders More Boeing 787s

Japan Airlines has announced that it will procure an additional 10 Boeing 787-9s, with the first set to arrive in 2028 going through to 2031.

This is a finalization of the order announced in March of this year. Once the order is finalized, it will bring JAL’s order total to 10 Boeing 787s and 21 Boeing 737 Max.

Drukair Plans to Add 5 Airbus Jets

In one of the first A321XLR orders of the airshow, Bhutan flag carrier Drukair announced a revolutionary short-haul order for the airline. The full breakdown consists of three Airbus A320neos and two Airbus A321XLRs. 

The airline’s current Airbus fleet consists of four Airbus A320 family aircraft: three Airbus A319s and an A320ceo. The new aircraft will be revolutionary for the small Bhutani carrier, allowing it to reach destinations farther away, such as the Middle East or northeastern Asia.

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“[We’re] thrilled to embark on this new chapter in Drukair’s history, which dovetails perfectly with the development of the Gelephu Mindfulness City and work to expand the Gelephu Airport [VQGP],” Drukair CEO Tandi Wangchuk said. “Our investment in these state-of-the-art aircraft underscores our dedication to supporting Bhutan’s vision of holistic and mindful development.”

Qatar Airways Touts Upgraded Qsuite Product

Qatar Airways revealed its “QSuite next-gen” product, an upgrade to its current business-class product featured on its Boeing 777s and Airbus A350s. The new features include moveable 4K OLED Panasonic Astrova IFE screens, the first to be featured on board an airline’s cabin.

The seats in the cabin are also wider now, and the ability to socialize in so-called “Quad suites” (four seats grouped together) still remains at the heart of its product. The new seats will be featured on Qatar Airways’ Boeing 777-9s, which are on order and set to first arrive in 2025. 

Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on AirlineGeeks.com.

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Home to more than 10,000 U.S. troops, the air base southwest of Doha is a hub for U.S. Central Command operations and the largest American military base in the Middle East. The new agreement, which has not yet been announced publicly by the Biden administration, has been confirmed by numerous defense officials, CNN reported.

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News of the deal with the major non-NATO U.S. ally was also confirmed by Reuters.

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Last month, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin traveled to the Middle East, where he met with leaders from Qatar, as well as Kuwait, Bahrain, and Israel. During the visit, Austin praised Qatari defense leaders for making new investments at the air base.

“I especially wanted to be here…to share that Qatar and the United States will formally take steps forward to expand and reinforce our bilateral defense relationship,” Austin said. “We’ll do this through Qatar’s commitment to contribute significant resources to increase capabilities here at Al Udeid Air Base, and that will support both of our forces for years to come.” 

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Three years after Max airplanes were grounded in the wake of two deadly accidents, multiple Max variants garnered the lion’s share of Boeing’s 176 orders, eclipsing total orders for airliners manufactured by rival Airbus.

This year’s event marked the first time airliner manufacturers and customers have gathered at Farnborough since the COVID-19 pandemic cratered air travel in 2020, hobbling the airline industry. 

As air travel ramps up this summer, Boeing’s largest order came from Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines, which ordered 100 737 Max 10s—now rebranded as 737-10s. Delta’s first new Boeing order since 2011 had been preceded by large Delta orders for Airbus A321 and its fuel-efficient A321neo variant. 

“The aircraft will complement Delta’s high-performance A321neo fleet,” Delta said in a statement. The order will bring the carrier’s total 737 fleet to more than 300 aircraft, Delta’s second-largest fleet family behind Airbus’ A320. 

Delta acknowledged the 737-10 variant is still awaiting final certification from the FAA—expected in 2023. “In the event of a delay, the agreement has adequate protection in place, including allowing Delta to shift to another model of [the] Max family if necessary,” Delta said.

• READ MORE: Boeing CEO Won’t Rule Out Canceling 737-10

Other Significant Orders

Airbus benefited from Delta’s spending spree as well, firming up 12 options for Airbus A220-300s, the larger version of the single-aisle airliner. 

The total number of Airbus orders at Farnborough this year was smaller than Boeing’s, but included 56 orders from EasyJet for A320neos, including 18 previously ordered A320neos converted to orders for larger A321neos. 

In fact the ultra-efficient A321neo received 17 orders from LATAM.

Nonetheless, Airbus orders at Farnborough totaled only 85 aircraft—a lower number than analysts expected. “If they really have some unfinished deals in the making, it remains to be seen,” Richard Schuurman of industry consultant AirInsight told FLYING. This week yielded the lowest number of Airbus orders at a major European airshow since the Paris Air Show in 2017, Schuurman said, “although they have already sold over 500 aircraft this year.”

Airbus Leaves Early

Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury and chief commercial officer Christian Scherer skipped the company’s traditional week-ender news conference to announce final order tallies. Instead, they left the airshow on Wednesday, a day earlier than expected, the Seattle Times reported. 

Times reporter Dominic Gates reported Scherer told him, “Don’t worry about our sales ability. We’re doing really well, thank you very much.”

As day three at Farnborough ends, both Airbus CEO Faury and sales chief Scherer have left the Air Show.
There’ll be no major Airbus sales announcement press conferences on Thursday
“Don’t worry about our sales ability. We’re doing really well thank you very much” Scherer told me

— Dominic Gates (@dominicgates) July 20, 2022

Embraer

Brazil-based Embraer reported orders for eight E175 airliners for Horizon Air and two E190 converted freighters for Nordic Aviation Capital.

Embraer also reported receiving letters of intent (LOIs) to purchase more than 250 of Embraer’s new 70- and 90-seat turboprops. The next-gen airliner is expected to be launched next year in Paris, Schuurman said. “It would almost double their order backlog and drastically improve their business case.”

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During the International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) 78th Annual General Meeting in Doha, Qatar, the association’s director general Willie Walsh predicted that the aviation industry may finally achieve profitability by 2023 after the pandemic disruptions. Walsh provided an industry update to address the economic reality and promise for the industry’s future.

Airline officials from IATA’s 290 member airlines, including senior business leaders, equipment suppliers, government officials, and media from around the world, gathered in the Middle East to exchange notes as the aviation industry looks to navigate a series of complex and dynamic operating, business, and geopolitical environments. 

Aviation’s Rebound

Officials will welcome the positive outlook since—according to Walsh’s remarks—in 2020, the aviation industry registered a loss of $137.7 billion when travel dried up during the pandemic. Things improved in 2021 with vaccine rollouts around the world, but even then, the industry could only cut that loss down to $42.1 billion last year. Now, with border restrictions finally relaxing, IATA estimates that global losses this year could be reduced to $9.7 billion. This positive momentum has led IATA to predict that “industry-wide profit should be on the horizon in 2023.”  

“Aviation is resilient, and we are rebounding,” Walsh said, explaining that the industry is benefiting from two years of pent-up travel demand, now at 83 percent of pre-pandemic levels, which is forcing airlines to scramble to benefit from the upside. He heaped credit on airline leaders for flexing their financial savvy to weather the downturn, though that came with “wage cuts, layoffs, reassignments, or retrenchments.” This rebound comes amid ongoing geopolitical disruptions, primarily from the Russia-Ukraine war, workforce shortages, and fuel shortages, which have sent prices skyrocketing. 

Rebuilding the Workforce and Hiring Pilots

Additionally, IATA pointed out that employment in the global aviation sector was still below the 2.93 million jobs that existed in 2019 and are expected to remain below this level for some time. On the pilot front, airlines have scrambled to recruit and retain pilots to meet demand, with some even raising wages by 50 percent. While hiring is one thing, IATA said, training new hires to be “job-ready” is another. 

“The time required to recruit, train, complete security/background checks, and perform other necessary processes before staff is ‘job-ready’ is presenting a challenge for the industry in 2022. In some cases, employment delays may constrain an airline’s ability to meet passenger demand,” Walsh said.

It is true. For instance, early in June, IATA airline member United Airlines (NASDAQ: UAL) said it would spend up to $100 million to expand its pilot training center—already the largest in the world of its kind—to ease its own pilot shortage and improve the training timeline for its more than 12,000 pilots.

Challenges Still Ahead

With the rebound in full swing, Walsh said challenges remain. 

“There is no way to sugarcoat the bitter economic and political realities we face. But both the desire to travel and the necessity of moving goods are solid.” 

He cited rising inflation across developed and developing countries, soaring energy prices at 50 percent more than in 2021, and financial rightsizing that some airlines still have to do, given the collective $650 billion of debt on their balance sheets.

Not Pleased with Governments 

But the director wasn’t happy with governments around the world for their pandemic responses among other things. Walsh said their lockdown decisions “dismantled connectivity, destroyed jobs, and inflicted misery on people.” The director said governments did not consult the aviation industry enough, and he mocked that “decisions were based on science, but it was political science, not medical or data science.” In the future, he said there needed to be closer collaboration between countries and governments to better withstand a future pandemic. Yet, his criticism of the pandemic response was just one of many. 

He poked at regulations that the government imposed, which seemingly didn’t benefit airline staff or customers, from poor accessibility rules to exorbitant fees that countries charged for overflight—or fees that airports passed to consumers. On the topic of sustainability, Walsh said that while the industry committed to being net zero in emissions by 2050, governments didn’t have any such skin in the game, and said they needed to play their part.

“Achieving net zero emissions will be a huge challenge. The projected scale of the industry in 2050 will require the mitigation of 1.8 gigatons of carbon,” Walsh explained. “Globally consistent government policies must support investment at that magnitude.”

Walsh on the Qatar v. Airbus Lawsuit

Finally, with Qatar Airways serving as the host airline for the conference, Walsh was asked to comment on the ongoing dispute between Airbus and the airline. Qatar Airways is suing the OEM for more than $1 billion in damages for erosion issues it discovered in some of its A350s. In a perhaps retaliatory response, Airbus canceled a contract with Qatar Airways to deliver A321s to the airline. In a statement, Qatar said it was “extremely concerned about the precedent that Airbus is setting” and said the mixing of the two issues was “extremely damaging for our industry.” When Walsh weighed in, he told reporters that he’d need to watch the situation more closely if it was confirmed that Airbus was using its strength to exploit its position.

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Qatar Airways has signed to be the launch customer for Boeing’s next-generation 777X freighter still in development, agreeing Monday to buy 34 of the widebody aircraft in a deal that seemed inevitable given recent bad blood between the airline and European manufacturer Airbus.

The Middle East carrier also announced that it has options for 16 additional cargo aircraft beyond its firm commitment and signed an agreement for up to 50 737-10s, the largest 737 Max single-aisle passenger jet. As part of the agreement, Qatar will convert 20 of its 60 orders for 777X passenger aircraft to the 777-8 freighter. Qatar is also ordering two current production 777 freighters to get faster access to aircraft and meet customer demand.

Boeing said the deal is worth more than $20 billion at current list prices and represents the largest freighter commitment in Boeing history by value. First delivery of the new cargo transport is anticipated in 2027.

Qatar Airways is the largest air cargo airline in the world by throughput—not including express carriers FedEx and UPS, which get a huge boost from hauling parcels in the domestic U.S. market—and has a fleet of 26 Boeing 777, two 747-8, and two 747-400 freighters, and one Airbus A310. During the pandemic it has also operated six 777-300 passenger airplanes in dedicated cargo mode, but has returned four of them to full passenger mode. The new aircraft will be used to expand and renew the cargo fleet.

Qatar Airways urged Boeing in 2019 to offer a freighter version of the 777X, which Boeing is now calling the 777-8. The carrier had few alternatives for a large, long-haul cargo jet because of a nasty spat with Airbus and Boeing no longer offering its current lineup of freighters later this decade. Boeing is shutting down its 747-8 production line this year and must discontinue making the current 777 variant in 2027 to comply with new international emissions standards.

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Boeing said it will build the 777-8 at its Everett, Washington, assembly plant. It has invested more than $1 billion to support 777X production. 

The announcement coincided with President Joe Biden’s meeting Monday at the White House with Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani.

“The economic impact of this sale will reverberate throughout the United States,” Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said in a statement. “It’s a win for our workers, our manufacturers and our suppliers. These new freighters will be manufactured and assembled by American workers on American soil in Everett, Washington. And the aircraft will include GE9X engines produced by GE Aviation, also built and assembled in the U.S. Both Boeing and GE Aviation rely on hundreds of suppliers located in states across the U.S., many of whom will play integral roles in the production of these freighters.”

The Middle Eastern airline’s decision is a huge validation for Boeing. Certification of Boeing’s 777X design has been delayed several years by technical snags, distractions associated with the 737 Max grounding and COVID. Boeing (NYSE: BA) lost $4.3 billion in 2021, the third consecutive year of losses but an improvement from $11.9 billion in 2020.

During a presentation of fourth-quarter earnings last week, Boeing officials said they expect to deliver the first 777X passenger airplane in late 2023. The company has completed engine and aircraft performance testing for the 777X, flown more than 1,800 flight hours, and is close to beginning certification flight testing under FAA supervision. German flag carrier Lufthansa will be the first customer for the 777X passenger platform. Boeing says it has 334 orders from eight airlines for the passenger model, with the 777-8 designed to go against the Airbus A350 and the 777-9 for a new market segment. 

The airplane should be attractive to cargo haulers because it has a payload capacity nearly identical to the 747-400 freighter while offering a 25 percent improvement in fuel efficiency, emissions, and operating costs. Technological improvements include a new carbon-fiber composite wing and fuel-efficient engines. With a range of 4,410 nm, the 777X will enable airlines to make fewer stops and reduce landing fees on long-haul routes. 

Relationship with Airbus Sours

Qatar Airways also placed a firm order for 25 737-10 aircraft and purchase rights for 25 additional airplanes, with a total value of $7 billion at list prices.  

Qatar Airways predictably spurned Airbus’ new A350 large freighter after taking Airbus to court in December over complaints that exterior paint on its A350 passenger airplanes is deteriorating and jeopardizing safety. Airbus says the paint issues are cosmetic. 

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The dispute between an airline and the major aircraft manufacturer has turned unusually nasty, with the carrier grounding 21 A350 aircraft, canceling an order for 50 Airbus A321 neo single-aisle passenger jets and releasing a video  showing the alleged damage on its A350s. 

Qatar Airways, which is seeking $600 million in damages, said the surface degradation exposes aircraft’s lightning protection system to damage and the underlying composite structure to moisture and ultraviolet light. Other defects include cracking in the composite fuselage and damage around many rivets. It is demanding Airbus investigate the root cause of the problem and determine if repairs will correct it. 

Demand for air cargo accelerated during the COVID pandemic with the drastic reduction in international passenger flights, the surge in e-commerce orders and extensive delays in ocean shipping. Boeing forecasts that the global freighter fleet will grow by 70 percent in the next 20 years as international trade and e-commerce continue to flourish.   

Boeing has dominated the factory-built freighter market for years, with Airbus completely on the sidelines after pulling the plug on the A330-200 medium-size cargo platform in the last decade following lackluster sales. Airbus has now reengaged with the introduction of a freighter version of its popular A350 twin-aisle passenger jet and since November has secured 15 orders from Singapore Airlines, CMA CG, and Air Lease Corp. (NYSE: AL). 

Boeing booked record orders for new and converted cargo platforms last year, including 84 orders for 767, 777, and 747 freighters, driven by e-commerce growth and demand for faster, more reliable transport amid widespread logjams in ocean shipping. That exceeded the previous record of 80 production cargo transports set in 2020. During the year it also opened, or made plans for, 10 new assembly lines around the world for passenger-to-freighter conversions.

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