Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer opened the 2024 Farnborough International Air Show, but speculation about the status of the GCAP project followed.

Addressing reporters, the PM described GCAP as 'important' but stopped short of offering a cast-iron guarantee it would go ahead.

However, in a clear sign of support, the Prime Minister headed for the GCAP exhibit immediately after opening the show.

While the GCAP partners unveiled a new rendering of the aircraft, Defence Secretary John Healey used the airshow to stress the importance of the aerospace and defence industry to the country’s economy.

He announced a new £6.

5bn, ten-year partnership with MBDA to enable ‘always-on’ manufacturing to ensure the UK’s defence industry is always ready to supply munitions at an acceptable cost.

After the last two major airshows in Singapore and Dubai saw Airbus lead the duopoly of trade deals, is Boeing bouncing back? Kicking off the major order announcements, Boeing confirmed a previously rumoured order from Korean Air for 50 aircraft.

The airline will receive 20 777-9s and 20 787-10s, with options for ten more Dreamliners.

Korean already operates almost 30 777 aircraft, but this is the first order for the 777-9 type.

Meanwhile, the Dreamliners will add to the backlog of several already on order.

Furthermore, Luxair, the flag carrier of Luxembourg, announced it had penned a deal for two 737-10 jets, with options for two more.

It comes a year after purchasing Boeing 737-7 and -8 aeroplanes.

National Airlines, an air cargo and passenger charter company based in Florida, announced the purchase of four Boeing 777 freighters.

The company operates a small fleet, comprising eight Boeing 747-400s, one Airbus A330-200 (leased from Air Lease Corporation) and one Boeing 757-200.

Furthermore, National Airlines announced it selected GE Aerospace for eight of its GE90-110B engines to power its new cargo jets.

Finally, Japan Airlines announced that it is modernising its fleet with a deal of up to 20 Dreamliners.

The deal includes ten 787-9s with options for ten more, adding to the company’s 50 plus fleet of the widebody.

Speaking exclusively on the opening day of FIA 2024, European Space Agency Director General Josef Aschbacher said the organisation’s strengths with the UK were stronger than ever.

“The UK is a founding member of ESA and remains the fourth largest member state,” he explained.

“The UK is very engaged in a number of big ESA projects, including the Rosalind Franklin mission to explore Mars [previously known as ExoMars], and there are now four UK citizens selected for astronaut training.

The UK boasts a very strong industry and we really love working with you.

” Speaking of the recent Ariane 6 launch, Aschbacher declared the mission a success, despite the failure of the APU.

“The launch was split into two phases; the launch phase and the mission phase.

The launch phase, up to about 107 minutes was 100% successful and did all that was needed to be done but, during the mission phase, we chose to conduct some technical experiments of something that we cannot test on ground, i.

e.

the firing of the APU in microgravity.

This is where we had an issue but, it is really a relatively small problem.

We have a very good understanding of what happened.

I do not want to pre-empt the investigation by announcing the results in advance but I can reassure you that this is something that we will master very soon and it does not impact the next flight schedule.

We are still on schedule for the next launch by the end of the year and then November.

” Aschbacher was keen to emphasise that the mission has been “a huge success for Europe” and explained that “since 2020, the statistics of a rocket launching successfully on the first attempt are just 53%, so we are really happy.

” He also confirmed that Arianespace has seen interest from new customers since the launch and was still concentrating on returning Vega C to service by the end of the year to provide a medium launch capacity.

This year, ESA has satellite launches scheduled, which will be a record for the agency, and has just begun the EarthCare programme, which Aschbacher refers to as “the biggest Earth exploration mission ever undertaken.

” So what does the future hold for UK involvement in ESA? “Because of the excellence that the UK has in terms of engineers and scientific brains, what I really need in order to keep these incredible people engaged and excited is more major programmes and flagship projects,” concluded the DG.

“We have to do everything we can to ensure that they remain invested in the UK and Europe and do not run away over the Atlantic in search of new opportunities.

Space is vital for our society, for our economy and for strategic and geopolitical reasons, so it is crucial that we engage with the talent but also keep the talent engaged.

”With the latest configuration of the GCAP future fighter project drawing much attention at the start of the show, a press conference from the three industrial partners from the UK, Italy and Japan gave some insight into the thinking behind the increase in wing area.

While Herman Claesen, BAE’s Managing Director, Future Combat Air Systems, declined to go into too much technical detail on the design changes, he said that the bigger wing pointed to the “need to go far, carry a lot of stuff and do it in a low-observable, stealthy configuration”.

Rapid digital design he said, was enabling design changes that “used to be done in weeks and months to be completed overnight”.

The aircraft is now closing in on its final configuration and outer mould line.

Claesen, meanwhile, stressed the “absolutely unheard of” rapid pace of the tri-national programme, which was fully launched in December 2022 and was in no danger of being slowed down by either a new government or the upcoming defence review, saying, “we are definitely not putting the toe-brakes on”.

Meanwhile, while headlines speculated on what GCAP or Tempest being ring-fenced in the upcoming defence review, it is notable that the PM, Sir Keir Starmer, made the GCAP pavilion his first port of call after today's opening ceremony.

Other VIP visitors to the GCAP that day included the RAF Chief of the Air Staff, ACM Sir Richard Knighton and Maria Eagle MP, Defence Procurement Minister, underlying the importance of the project.

Airbus and Airports Council International (ACI), a trade organisation focused on uniting industry practices for airport standards, based in Canada, are collaborating on supporting the industry’s decarbonisation efforts.

Announced early on the first official trade day of FIA, the two will work to address several parts of the sustainable aviation ecosystem, including hydrogen technologies, the development of SAF, advanced air mobility, aircraft noise management practices and operations efficiency.

Airbus and ACI’s ‘plan of attack’ to address these challenges are not clear, but ultimately, the two will combine expertise to “influence policies and standards that support sustainable aviation”, according to Airbus’ Chief Sustainability Officer, Julie Kitcher.

This will include the exchange of information between the two on perspectives for lowering carbon operations, communication on industry progress, jointly developed guidance materials, and the potential to unify on policies and standards to achieve these targets.

The DART-750 turboprop trainer from Austria’s Diamond Aircraft performed its public flying debut during the opening day of FIA 2024.

Having first flown in June 2023, the latest member of the DART family first appeared on static display at the Paris Airshow later the same month but flight testing has now progressed sufficiently to allow the aerobatic aircraft to perform in public.

The aircraft differs from earlier DART-450 and 550 prototypes by having the ubiquitous 750shp P&WC PT6A-25C turboprop as a powerplant as well as a range of system upgrades.

Interestingly, the aircraft is also being offered to civilian owners as well as military operators.

Marking one of his first major funding announcements since becoming Business and Trade Secretary earlier this month, Jonathan Reynolds revealed a £103m investment into greener air travel on the first day of the airshow.

The funding, delivered through the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) will be pooled between five R&D projects led by several industry companies and institutions, including GKN Aerospace, Queens University, Rolls-Royce, Short Brothers and ZeroAvia.

GKN’s H2FlyGHT, included in the funding, aims to develop and test a liquid hydrogen fuel cell system and two-megawatt cryogenic electrical propulsion system.

The £44m programme was also launched on the first day of the airshow, and seeks to develop zero-emissions propulsion systems for larger aircraft.

It builds off the company’s previous H2GEAR programme which initially focused on developing cryogenically enhanced propulsion systems that could be used for smaller aircraft, with the ability to eventually scale up to larger ones.

ZeroAvia will receive the funding for its Advanced Fuel Cell for Aviation Decarbonisation (AFCAD) project, taking high temperature fuel cell stack technology to enable zero emissions flight, within commercial aircraft, and potentially rotorcraft and eVTOLs.

Queens University will receive the funding to bolster testing and manufacturing equipment at the Advanced Manufacturing Innovation Centre (AMIC) to bolster the development of composite materials.

Rolls-Royce’s Hot Section Lifting and Materials (HOTLINE), in partnership with Cranfield University and the University of Birmingham will receive the aid to the development of turbine technologies that reduce unit and lifecycle costs.

Lastly, Shorts, one of the oldest aerospace companies in the world, will receive a £5.

8m grant from the pool for its project that aims to reduce material usage and increase fuel efficiency of aircraft platforms.

Currently there is little information published about the project, however – and interestingly - the Shorts' project is the only one to have