Paris, Le Bourget. The 55th International Paris Air Show (PAS) at Le Bourget Airport, just outside Paris, began earlier today, June 16 on a somber note with the shadow of the India’s recent air tragedy involving a Boeing plane, and Boeing deciding not to participate at the show, and focusing instead on the on-going investigation in India, to determine the cause of the recent crash.
However, for Airbus the PAS started-off with a smile, with Airbus bagging an order from Saudi Arabia-based leasing company Avilease, which has placed an order for 77 aircraft. The order includes 22 A350Fs (A350 Freighter) and 55 A320 Neos, and is Avilease’s first direct order with Airbus.
AviLease, which was founded in 2022, has an existing fleet of 200 aircraft. Deliveries are expected to take place from 2030 to 2033 and no decision yet has been made on the engines the aircraft will use. Benoît de Saint-Exupéry, executive vice president sales of Airbus’ commercial aircraft business said, “We are confident we can deliver the aircraft in this timeline.”
Riyadh Air also signed a deal with Airbus for 25 A350-1000 long-haul jets. Both Saudi firms are units of the Saudi Public Investment Fund, whose leaders attended the show as part of a large Saudi delegation as the kingdom attempts to grow its tourism and cargo infrastructure and challenge the airline kingpins of the Gulf, Emirates and Qatar Airways, for a share of the growing traffic.
Civil Aviation Industry Forecast
On the eve of the show, Airbus revealed its latest Global Market Forecast (GMF) which predicts that the global airlines will need 43,420 new aircraft over the next two decades. Despite being revised slightly downwards due to current uncertainties such as tariffs, passenger traffic is still set to grow by 3.6% annually to 2044, said the company, powered by global GDP, a growing (1.5 billion) middle class and emerging markets such as India and China.
For Airbus the PAS started-off with a smile, with Airbus bagging an order from Saudi Arabia-based leasing company Avilease, which has placed an order for 77 aircraft. The order includes 22 A350Fs (A350 Freighter) and 55 A320 Neos, and is Avilease’s first direct order with Airbus
Meanwhile, speaking to the media ahead of the PAS, Boeing’s VP Commercial Marketing, Darren Hulst, explained that it is in the narrowbody segment that the company sees the most potential for future sales. “In the single aisle market, over the last 25 years, the average seat number has increased by around 30 seats from the mid-140s to the high-160s,” he explained. “Airlines, depending on whether they’re serving network business models or low-cost business models, are moving towards leveraging both the capability of single aisle jets’ range and their efficiency relative to seat capacity. They are also weighing the flexibility of using interiors to target revenue opportunities.”
New planes at PAS
Since the PAS 2023, developments have continued in the field of applying AI to air combat. Immediately prior to the show, Saab announced that it has carried out a successful trial of an AI agent in a beyond visual range air-to-air combat scenario.
This was done in cooperation with tech start-up Helsing, which is gaining a name for itself through offering software management solutions as well as unmanned vehicles in the maritime domain and ever-expanding sector of one-way attack drones, the latter of which is being supplied to Ukraine. According to Peter Nilsson, Head of Advanced Programmes in Saab’s aeronautics business area, the aim of this project was, “to see if we can take another company’s software and put it straight into Gripen.”
The trial, carried out on May 28, 2025, utilised Helsing’s Centaur AI system on an operational (instead of test) Gripen E fighter aircraft where the pilot received information and advice on how to execute a dogfight scenario with prompts such as the optimum time to fire a generic missile type. At a later trial on June 3, the Centaur-equipped Gripen E flew against a Gripen D which did not have the system fitted, showing the ability of Centaur to guide the host platform in a BVR scenario.
This project, funded by the Swedish FMV procurement agency, is part of Saab’s effort to develop systems that are less reliant on top-down command and control, moving towards a model where decisions are able to be made more quickly. Nilsson explained that this is part of Saab’s efforts to work in areas including quantum and rapid prototyping as air warfare moves towards the combination of crewed and uncrewed systems.
On the eve of the show, Airbus revealed its latest Global Market Forecast (GMF) which predicts that the global airlines will need 43,420 new aircraft the next two decades. Despite being revised slightly downwards due to current uncertainties such as tariffs, passenger traffic is still set to grow by 3.6% annually to 2044
VoltAero’s, CEO and founder Jean Botti gave a briefing revealing the production version of its hybrid-electric Cassio 330 and the changes to the aircraft’s design. The aircraft, intended for regional air mobility, has now lost its twin booms in favour a T-tail and twin rear engines – interestingly similar to the E-Fan electric aircraft that Botti worked on while at Airbus. First flight of the prototype is scheduled for early 2026 with conventional engines, while the series hybrid powertrain undergoes ground tests.
China’s United Aircraft unveiled its new T1400 tandem rotor UAV. The company, which has already certified and produced the TD550D coaxial rotor UAV, is marketing the new T1400 for a variety of applications including logistics, crop spraying, firefighting, and aero-medical evacuation. With an eight-hour endurance, the T1400 has a maximum take-off weight of 1,400kg and payload capacity of 650kg. Its range exceeds 560 miles and in spray mode it can cover 330 acres in an hour. United Aircraft also plans to carry out the maiden flight of its R6000 tilt-rotor UAV next month.
Slovenian ultralight manufacturer Shark exhibited an example of its Shark UL in a very unusual configuration. Normally operated by civilian pilots, and famously flown around the world solo by British teenagers Zara and Mack Rutherford, the aircraft has now been modified into a drone killer, capable of jamming GPS and GNSS signals. It can also locate and track drone operators with a ground coverage of 8 sq km, when operating at 12,000ft. The aircraft can also carry a laser range finder, laser pointer and 1000p video with a 13.7x optical zoom on a stabilised gimble.
France Bans Israel’s participation
Tensions between long-standing allies France and Israel flared up as the show was getting underway, when Paris ordered the main four Israeli company stands to be closed down when they refused to remove weapons from open display.
Since the PAS 2023, developments have continued in the field of applying AI to air combat. Immediately prior to the show, Saab announced that it has carried out a successful trial of an AI agent in a beyond visual range air-to-air combat scenario
Israel’s ministry of defence condemned the move as “outrageous and unprecedented” and accused France of trying to shield its companies from Israeli competition.
Speaking to reporters by the black partitions erected to block off the Israeli stands, US Republican Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders described the French move as “pretty absurd”.
Show organisers said they were holding talks to try to “find a favourable outcome”.
Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd’s (IAI) president and CEO, Boaz Levy in a statement said, “Following decades of participation in the Paris Airshow and discussions with the French authorities, we received all of the authorisations to participate in the Airshow and have done everything they requested from us. Last night, after our booth was set up and ready for the show, we were asked to remove some of our systems from the booth. We tried to negotiate with them, but it seems these orders came from the highest levels in Paris, and this morning, when we arrived at our booth, we were shocked to find out that we were blocked by black walls built overnight, which reminds us of the dark days of when Jews were segmented from European society.”
Meanwhile, Boeing’s CEO Kelly Ortberg and Commercial Airplanes boss Stephanie Pope cancelled their trip to Paris and the US company is scaling back its schedule at the event as it focuses on supporting the probe into last week’s Air India crash that killed more than 240 people in the first fatal 787 accident.
In other business, Japanese airline ANA was set to finalise a previously announced Airbus order and industry sources have said EgyptAir is close to finalise an order for six more Airbus A350s.
Tensions between long-standing allies France and Israel flared up as the show was getting underway, when Paris ordered the main four Israeli company stands to be closed down when they refused to remove weapons from display
Bloomberg News reported that Taiwanese carrier Starlux was also close to ordering more of the A350 long-haul planes.
US arms firms were also pushing their wares as European rivals debate how to respond to higher spending though there were few major announcements.
Paris is traditionally a civil show but a lot of investors, especially those new to aerospace and defence, are coming this year, with perhaps overly high expectations with regards to defence news flow.
The Alpha Jets of the French Air Force’s elite aerobatic team, the Patrouille de France, executed thrilling exhibition flights on the first day of the show and an Airbus A350-1000 passenger jet also performed an aerial demonstration at PAS 2025.