Berlin Air Show a Success, Organizers Say

The prestigious Berlin Air Show (ILA) attracted around 250,000 visitors over six days and saw contracts worth some five billion euros ($7.8 billion) sealed as it drew to a close on Saturday, May 31.
The show, held every two years, mixes flying displays by lovingly restored vintage planes with hard-sell marketing talk from companies like European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS), the parent of Airbus.
The majority of the 1,100 exhibitors from 37 countries said they were satisfied with their success at the show.
Dietmar Schrick, head of the German Aerospace Indsturies Association (BDLI) said he was satisfied with the show's results.
The final day of the ILA drew 50,000 visitors to the venue near Schoenefeld airport on the south-eastern outskirts of the German capital.
The show saw 300 aircraft displayed on the ground or taking to the skies, with the star of the show the Airbus A380, the world's largest commercial airliner. Also on view were the two biggest series- production planes ever made, the Antonov An 124 and C-5 Galaxy.
India was the partner nation this year at the show and the country's rapidly expanding airline industry was typical of the robust markets that cheered European aerospace and defense companies at the aviation show. India's booming Jet Airways took delivery of one of the 15 new A330-200 airliners it has ordered from Airbus.
Air travel is growing fast in India as incomes rise and travelers avoid slower land transport, a shift in travel behavior that is being seen in other emerging economies too.
That expansion not only spells more orders for planes, but is also leading to a worldwide shortage of pilots and aviation engineers.
In addition to a skills crunch in the aviation industry, the show this year also took place in the shadow of soaring oil prices, environmental concerns, a rising euro and the effects of a faltering US economy on the aviation industry.
Earlier this week, Peter Hintze, the German government's coordinator of aviation policy, appealed to the aerospace industry to pay more attention to criticisms of the planes' pollution and climate-change impact.
He said the extensive use of older jets for air cargo meant greater public sensitivity about the freight business. Older planes are generally noisier and use more fuel per ton carried than new ones.
31/05/08 Deutsche Welle, Germany

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