Eric Trappier—the newly elected president of the Groupement des Industries Françaises Aéronautiques et Spatiales (Gifas), which organizes the Paris Air Show—told journalists that he was "satisfied with the first two days" of the show. "The new Président de la République, Emmanuel Macron, spent more than five hours visiting the airshow. For us, it’s the best acknowledgment of our profession," said Trappier, who is also president and CEO of Dassault Aviation. Macron met representatives of the American Aerospace Industries Association (AIA), which is the U.S. equivalent of Gifas.
Regarding the business climate, Trappier didn’t see any sign of weakness in the industry, despite a relative lack of orders compared to the 2015 Paris Air Show. "Commercial aircraft is still a strong market, even if there are difficulties in the business aviation and helicopter segments."
In terms of the number of visitors at Paris 2017, Trappier said, "It's too early to tell, but the Paris Air Show remains the top airshow in the world, in terms of visitors, exhibitors and size, with almost twice as much as the Farnborough Airshow." He emphasized the importance of the aerospace industry in France and Europe: "This industry is a successful one, and it has to be supported by governments. We talked about that with President Macron. I think he understood, and I’m sure he will support us. In the U.S., the government does not hesitate to offer strong financial support for aerospace R&D, because they recognize that the aerospace industry is important. Future success must start with with R&D now. And that’s why we demand that the R&D budget must be at least €1 billion."
On the military side, the sudden resignation of the French minister of defence, Sylvie Goulard, on Tuesday was "a total surprise." "One hour before, we were waiting for her official visit," said Trappier. That visit has been postponed until a new minister of defense is named. The new president of Gifas repeated the call for increasing the defense budget to 2 percent of the GDP. "President Macron proposed it in several steps, leading up to 2025. Regarding this matter, our preference is 'as soon as possible.'"