Massive Order Announcements and Significant Product Launches Underscore

Massive Order Announcements and Significant Product Launches Underscore

July 24, 2006

Highly Successful Farnborough International Airshow

    FARNBOROUGH, England, July 24 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ --
The Farnborough International Airshow (FIA) closed today
after a highly successful week in which over US$38 billion
of business was announced together with major new product
and programme launches.

    FIA 2006 was one of the biggest in recent memory with
1480 exhibitors from 35 countries taking part. Some 75
defence delegations from 43 countries attended, along with
40 civil aerospace delegations from 15 countries. Trade
show attendance figures during the week are expected to top
the 2004 level of 133,000.

    Trevor Sidebottom, Managing Director of Farnborough
International Limited, the airshow organiser said today:
"We have had a truly fantastic airshow this year. From
the scale of business announced, the high calibre of the
visitors attending and the fact that companies are using
our airshow to make significant product or partnership
announcements, there is no doubt that Farnborough
International Airshow is the world's pre-eminent business
to business airshow."

    International aerospace companies used the airshow to
announce significant new business worth in excess of US$38
billion. Orders have been announced from across the
aerospace spectrum, covering civil and defence products,
aero-engines, the supply chain, the MRO sector, training,
equipment and services.

    New products on display at the airshow included the
Airbus A380, the Raytheon ASTOR Sentinel surveillance
aircraft, a host of new business jet types and the Bell
Boeing V-22 Osprey. Bell Boeing used Farnborough
International Airshow to launch an international sales
drive for the aircraft.

    The most significant new product launch this week was
the new Airbus A350XWB airliner, which by the end of the
week had secured its first order. The rotary winged sector
was very busy with the X-Hawk Fancraft from Bell Helicopter
and Urban Aeronautics of Israel, the new AugustaWestland
AW149 multi-role helicopter and two new variants of the
Sikorsky Black Hawk being announced.

    Raytheon of the USA unveiled its AT-6 Joint Airborne
Weapons System -- a light attack version of the T6B
turboprop trainer, Honeywell launched its Synthetic Vision
System for a business jet with the first to be installed
next year on the Gulfstream range of aircraft, and Lockheed
Martin used the airshow to reveal details of its
all-composite long-range high altitude P-175 Polecat UAV.

    Several new collaborative ventures were launched at the
airshow, among them being Pratt & Whitney's new
strategic alliances for possible powerplants for future
medium range twinjets and Bombardier's partnership
agreement with Shenyang Aircraft for the manufacture of
Dash 8-400 fuselages. Of great UK significance was the
announcement of the Team Complex Weapons strategy by Lord
Drayson, Minister of State for Defence Procurement under
the auspices of the Defence Industrial Strategy.

    From Farnborough International Limited, organisers of
Farnborough International Airshow. For more details see
http://www.farnborough.com .

    For more information, please contact:

     David Dorman
     PR Advisor
     Farnborough International Ltd 
     Tel:   [phone] or [phone]
     Email: [e-mail]

     Shirley-Ann Leitch
     Communications Manager 
     Farnborough International, Ltd
     Tel:   [phone]
     Email: [e-mail]

SOURCE  Farnborough International Airshow