- Paris Air Show 2021 cancelled
By Sangeeta Saxena
New Delhi. 13 December 2020. In decades this should be the saddest news for airshow enthusiasts. Odd year and no airshow at Le Bourget Paris. The airport, the metro rail service popularly called RER and hotels in and around Le Bourget will not be streaming with exhibitors and vistors. An the wait will not get over. The 54th Paris Air Show will open to aviation enthusiasts, professionals and the huge strength of aerospace and defence industry but in 2023. For the first time post the World War II , Paris Air Show will not be happening.
In light of the uncertainty linked to the current COVID-19 health crisis, the Paris Air Show organization has made the decision to cancel the 2021 edition of the show, which was scheduled to take place from 21 to 27 June 2021.
Together with the Board of Directors of the GIFAS (French Aerospace Industries Association), the Board of Directors of the Paris Air Show has taken this inevitable decision in response to the international health crisis and the large number of visitors that this popular show attracts. This reasonable decision was agreed upon unanimously by the Paris Air Show Board members in the context of a crisis that has had an unprecedented impact on the aerospace industry.
The next edition of the Paris Air Show will be held in June 2023, at a date that will be announced shortly. Exhibitors will receive a full refund of all sums already paid and the Paris air Show will take full financial responsibility for this decision.
“We are obviously disappointed not to be able to hold the 2021 edition of the Paris Air Show. After many months of all trade show activities being suspended throughout the world, the entire international aerospace and defence community was very much looking forward to being able to meet. We have already started work to ensure that the 2023 edition celebrates the resurgence of the aerospace industry on an international scale,” explains Patrick Daher, Chairman of the International Paris Air Show and Chairman of the Daher Group.
Gilles Fournier, CEO of the International Paris Air Show, added, “We would like to extend a huge thank you to all of our partners, exhibitors and service providers for the trust they have placed in us. We share their disappointment, as the Paris Air Show continues to be an extremely popular event, even in periods of crisis. The 2023 edition will be larger than ever, and our teams are already working to ensure its success.”
Established in 1909, the International Paris Air Show is still the most important show in the world for the aeronautics and space industry. In France, the show is a real driver for this sector and a major catalyst for much international collaboration. As such it is the place where the sector’s decision makers choose to meet and gather as they come here to exhibit, sell and buy all the latest innovations. Since the Show is so massively popular with the worldwide aerospace community and the general public, it offers unrivalled opportunities for conducting business, and for being seen and known.
Just at the entry/exit to the show is the Air and Space museum is one of the top aviation museums in the world with more than 40,000 items it has started to collect since the early 20th century, the museum is protected by the “Musée de France” status. Visitors can discover about a hundred aircrafts among the 400 composing its collections, from the very first planes to the Breguet 19 “Point d’interrogation”, the Spitfire and the Concorde. The museum also owns an exceptional art collection, models, engraving, toys, and ethnographic items. The place the Air and Space museum has been built on is very important and full of memory. Le Bourget is a place that has seen many aviation heroes, including Charles Lindbergh.
It is not just French wine, Eiffel Tower and Seine River which are cynosure of all eyes in Paris. Come the Parisian summer of odd years and the sky is the centre of attraction with metal birds of all shapes and sizes regaling the city with their displays. 2021 will become a zero year for this regalia.
The list is endless and anybody and everybody who has anything to do with aviation is here at the mother of all airshows to buy, sell , market or generally have the presence felt. But in 2021 there will be no count down to the show, no week of endless activity, boundless energy and the largest conglomeration of aviation world . No Welcome to Paris Air Show 2021! The wait to Paris Air Show 2023 is going to be a long one.
