The Dubai Airshow was bigger, brasher and - with more fighter jet displays - louder than the previous event in 2013.
But there were question marks over whether the show would produce the headlines of previous years, and so it proved.
Three themes emerged from this extravaganza in the desert.
Airlines are pausing for breath in the pace at which they are placing aircraft orders, defence cheque books are being opened again after years of budget cuts, and the Dubai show underlines a shift in the centre of gravity for the aerospace and defence industry.
Two years ago, the Dubai show generated announcements for civil aircraft orders worth $206bn (£135bn).
Fast-growing Emirates Airline, Eithad and Qatar Airways were the biggest customers, but there were also orders from the Gulf burgeoning budget airline carriers.
Orders backlog
This time, Asian airlines provided some of the bigger news of the week.
On Monday, India's Jet Airways said it would buy 75 Boeing 737MAX aircraft worth $8bn, though this was really confirmation of a previous announcement.
The biggest single all-new order was from Vietnamese low cost carrier Vietjet, which is buying 30 Airbus A321s in a deal worth $3.6bn at list prices.
Airlines typically get discounts for bulk-buys and negotiations seem to have gone down to the wire, with Airbus delaying a formal announcement several times.
Did Vietjet get better terms because the show had been quiet? The deal was a "win-win" for both sides said Vietjet chief executive Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao.
There were other orders, but nothing to compare, say, with Boeing's haul of $101bn worth of deals unveiled two years ago.
"I think everyone's more than adequately ordered," says Richard Aboulafia, vice president at US-based aerospace consultancy Teal Group. "The Gulf carriers are still expanding, but the existing orders will do the job."
12/11/15 Russell Hotten/BBC.com
To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline
But there were question marks over whether the show would produce the headlines of previous years, and so it proved.
Three themes emerged from this extravaganza in the desert.
Airlines are pausing for breath in the pace at which they are placing aircraft orders, defence cheque books are being opened again after years of budget cuts, and the Dubai show underlines a shift in the centre of gravity for the aerospace and defence industry.
Two years ago, the Dubai show generated announcements for civil aircraft orders worth $206bn (£135bn).
Fast-growing Emirates Airline, Eithad and Qatar Airways were the biggest customers, but there were also orders from the Gulf burgeoning budget airline carriers.
Orders backlog
This time, Asian airlines provided some of the bigger news of the week.
On Monday, India's Jet Airways said it would buy 75 Boeing 737MAX aircraft worth $8bn, though this was really confirmation of a previous announcement.
The biggest single all-new order was from Vietnamese low cost carrier Vietjet, which is buying 30 Airbus A321s in a deal worth $3.6bn at list prices.
Airlines typically get discounts for bulk-buys and negotiations seem to have gone down to the wire, with Airbus delaying a formal announcement several times.
Did Vietjet get better terms because the show had been quiet? The deal was a "win-win" for both sides said Vietjet chief executive Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao.
There were other orders, but nothing to compare, say, with Boeing's haul of $101bn worth of deals unveiled two years ago.
"I think everyone's more than adequately ordered," says Richard Aboulafia, vice president at US-based aerospace consultancy Teal Group. "The Gulf carriers are still expanding, but the existing orders will do the job."
12/11/15 Russell Hotten/BBC.com
