Singapore Airshow organizers are heralding a strong comeback for the 2024 edition following the smaller, curtailed shows in 2020 and 2022 during the Covid-19 crisis. “It’s been a long six years since we last had a full-scale Singapore Airshow, but we’re back,” said the managing director of event organizer Experia, Leck Chet Lam, who went on to explain that this year’s edition has recovered to the pre-pandemic levels of the 2018 show.

About 90 percent of the world’s top aerospace companies are exhibiting, and the show features 16 country pavilions that include China, the Czech Republic, and South Korea for the first time. More than 1,000 companies from 50 countries are participating, with trade visitors expected to number around 50,000.

Embraer's growth target of 80 percent over the next seven years would result in $10 billion in revenue by 2030, thanks largely to its presence in the flourishing Asia-Pacific region. Speaking with AIN just ahead of this year's Singapore Airshow, company president and CEO Francisco Gomes Neto noted the company’s high-profile presence at the Changi Exhibition Center reflects its ambition to meet that goal.

“We’ve completed our [post-Covid] business turnaround since 2022, and from 2023 we’ve been back in a growth period,” Neto told AIN. “Asia-Pacific countries are a very important part of our plan and we have a young and very competitive portfolio of products to offer [that market].”

Airbus’ A350-1000 takes to the skies this week during the flying display at the 2024 Singapore Airshow, as the Franco-German manufacturer continues its campaign to promote sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

The OEM conducted a refueling demonstration on Sunday at Changi Airport in Singapore, pumping 12.8 tonnes of a 35 percent blend of SAF with conventional jet-A fuel into the widebody. The additional fuel brought the total amount in the A350 to 21.8 tonnes of the SAF blend, enough to accommodate the series of demonstrations during the flying displays throughout the week.

With aircraft engine makers at the vanguard of efforts to decarbonize air transport, the next 10 years or so will see the biggest breakthroughs in propulsion technology since the dawn of the jet age. The big three turbofan manufacturers—CFM International, Pratt & Whitney, and Rolls-Royce—are investing heavily in multistage work that starts with standardizing the use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and progresses towards electric and hydrogen propulsion.

Pratt & Whitney has begun pursuing several paths to introducing cleaner and more efficient engines between now and 2050. According to Frank Preli, the U.S. group’s vice president for advanced propulsion and materials technologies, the objective centers not just on cutting carbon dioxide, but other damaging emissions as well, including nitrogen oxides.

The 2024 edition of the Singapore Airshow features the largest number of flying teams in its history with eight aerial displays planned. The demonstrations include flypasts from six air forces and two commercial companies.

For the first time, the Indian Air Force’s Sarang helicopter air display team will perform its aerobatic maneuvers at the show in its HAL Dhruv helicopters. Other aerobatic teams on the slate for the show this week include the Royal Australian Air Force’s Roulettes (Pilatus PC-21s), Indonesian Air Force’s Jupiter (KAI KT-1s), and the Republic of Korea Air Force’s Black Eagles (KAI T-50s).

The digital flip-through issues of AIN’s award-winning Singapore Airshow News are now available online. It’s a great way to quickly scan the news from Singapore Airshow 2024, whether you’re in Singapore attending the show or watching from afar.