AirlineRatings.com camera was out and about on the first day of the Farnborough Air Show and the snaps highlight the current and future trend in aviation.
Missed by all was the fact that this was the first Farnborough – or Paris – where there were no four-engine commercial jets, such as the A380, on show. Nor was there any three-engine commercial passenger aircraft.
Certainly, the A380 is still being sold as is the Boeing 747-8 but orders are just a trickle, compared to the large twins, the 787, 777, A350 and A330 which offer amazing economics.
For instance, the twin-engine Boeing 787-9 in a Qantas 236-seat configuration burns 34 percent less fuel per passenger than a Qantas A380 in a near 500 seat configuration.
READ: Orders rain at Farnborough
The entire commercial display was exclusively a twin-engine affair dominated by the Boeing 787, 777 737 and the Airbus A350, A330, A320 and A220.
Below these pictures capture the action.
Biman Bangladesh Boeing 787-8
Biman Bangladesh 787 and Boeing 737 MAX 7
L:R: Qatar A350, Air Baltic A220 and Air Portugal A330-900
Air Baltic A220, Qatar A350 (at the back) and A220 demonstrator
Boeing 737 MAX 7 comes into land after a demo flight as the Mitsubishi MRJ regional jet awaits its turn.
Airbus A330-900 comes into land.
Airbus A350-1000 rolls for take-off
Boeing believes there is a future for hypersonic travel, like the model above.
On Sunday Boeing’s president, chairman, and chief executive, Dennis Muilenburg told media that the company saw “a future for supersonic/hypersonic platforms. High-speed connectivity is very important.”
