The Singapore Airshow, still the largest event of its kind in Asia, opens at the purpose-built Changi Exhibition Centre on February 16. Just ahead of this year’s six-day show, around 90 percent of the exhibit space had been sold, with returning exhibitors accounting for three-quarters of this, according to organizer Experia Events.
But with increasing competition from shows in other Asia Pacific countries, the organizers are taking a leaf from the Singapore government’s overall economic strategy by going upmarket and adding value. An impressive conference program downtown on the eve of the show will be backed up by new business forums at the show itself.
Experia Events managing director Leck Chet Lam calls it “Thought Leadership.” Indeed, two of the three pre-show conferences include the word "leadership" in their titles. And the biggest of them is expected to attract more than 150 leaders from the world of commercial aviation.
The Singapore Airshow Aviation Leadership Summit (SAALS) is in its fifth edition, and has been jointly organized by the Singapore Ministry of Transport, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS), IATA and Experia Events. A total of 400 delegates are expected to attend the invite-only event at the Raffles City Convention Centre on February 15. They will hear from the president of the ICAO Council, the director-general of IATA, the European Commissioner for Mobility and Transport, the director of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), and many more.
There will be three panels discussing issues of the day, namely whether global air hubs are the past or the future; the safety and privacy issues surrounding UAVs; and whether a global emissions agreement can be reached. “We hope for a multi-faceted discussion on all three issue,” said Kevin Shum, the director-general of the CAAS.
Meanwhile, in the Pan Pacific Hotel the A*STAR Aerospace Technology Leadership Forum will be taking place. A*STAR is the Singapore government’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research. It has organized two panels to discuss technology insertion to current programs, and radical innovation that would lead to new products. There will be senior speakers from more than a dozen of the world’s leading aerospace companies.
The third conference is in the Suntec Convention and Exhibition Centre and has a practical engineering focus. The Singapore Aerospace Technology and Engineering Conference (SATEC) is organized by the Singapore Institute of Aerospace Engineers (SIAE) and the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF). Senior defense technologists from Australia, Singapore and the U.S. will be joined by speakers from Boeing, Airbus and Rolls-Royce in the morning, followed by break-out sessions in the afternoon.
For the show itself, the same access arrangements as for previous shows apply—and will hopefully be just as efficient. However, visitors will notice some ground-clearing for the ambitious next phase in the expansion of Changi Airport.
In the big exhibition hall, visitors will find new pavilions from Indonesia and the Philippines, and new themed zones for Emerging Technologies, and Training and Simulation. France is the feature country for this year’s show.
Three of the four Business Forums that are scheduled for February 17 and 18 are new. The France-Singapore one will be co-chaired by French industry group GIFAS and Singapore Technologies Aerospace and feature 20 panelists and moderators from the two countries. The one on Emerging Technologies will focus on additive manufacturing and big data analytics.
The Training and Simulation Forum is particularly dear to Leck Chet Lam’s heart. The airshow boss has an aerospace engineering background, and says that the Asia-Pacific region needs many more to take up this career. The fourth of these two-hour forums will discuss Asia Business, with contributions from Ameco Beijing; Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation, SR Technics and GMF AeroAsia of Indonesia.
Aircraft Highlights
Two weeks before the show, Leck Chet Lam refused to rule out a debut appearance by the recently flown Mitsubishi Regional Jet. But even if the MRJ is a no-show, there will be two military types making their first appearance in Singapore: an Airbus A400M airlifter from the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) and a pair of Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor stealth fighters from the U.S. Air Force.
Also making show debuts will be two helicopters: the Airbus H145 and the Bell 505. Boeing will bring a 787-8F and the Sukhoi Superjet 100 is also listed for display. Finmeccanica is scheduled to bring Project Zero, its experimental electrically powered tiltrotor.
The U.S. Air Force will show an E-8 AWACS and the U.S. Navy a P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol jet plus two F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fighters. Expect also business jets from Bombardier, Dassault, Embraer, Gulfstream and Textron (Cessna), a brace of aircraft from the RSAF, and about 20 more assorted turboprops, transports and helicopters.
The daily hour-long flying display will be dominated by heavy military metal, with quieter relief provided only by an Airbus A350 XWB. There will be a coordinated display by an AH-64 Apache and F-15SG Strike Eagle of the RSAF; a French air force Rafale combat jet; a U.S. Air Force F-16C fighter and C-17 airlifter; and a Su-30MKM fighter from the Royal Malaysian Air Force. But the highlight for most will likely be the dynamic Black Eagles aerobatic team of the Republic of Korea Air Force, with their eight T-50 supersonic jet trainers.