Standout moments at this year’s Paris Air Show

After attending the Paris Air Show for many years (and I won’t tell you how many) naturally, they start to feel the same. So I started to make it a point to note certain stand-out moments at each show. During this most recent show, the 52^nd edition, special moments like these were in abundance.

Clearly, a moment of great pride was signing the MoU with Viva Air for 50 A320 Family aircraft. I am truly humbled that Irelandia Aviation, the LCC developer responsible for creating Viva Air, is once again placing its trust in Airbus and our best-selling single-aisle family for the growth and modernization of its airlines Viva Colombia, Viva Air Peru and others that may be launched.

We are experiencing a second wave of LCC expansion in Latin America, which makes Viva Air’s commitment perfectly timed. Viva Air’s goal is to strengthen and expand its position in Latin America by offering passengers the best and most affordable single aisle product available. I have no doubt that the A320 Family will achieve this exceptionally, as it has for countless LCCs around the world, while complementing Irelandia’s vision and ambition in the market.

Viva's order will bring Airbus to nearly 450 A320neo sold in Latin America, underscoring the fact that the A320 Family has become the region’s signature aircraft family.

It was also exciting to see airlines such as Delta, Ethiopian and WizzAir place repeat orders for more A320 and A350 Family, despite the less-than-favorable numbers of orders initially projected for this year’s air show. The A320neo Family continues to receive endorsements from the leasing community as lessors such has CDB Aviation, GECAS and ALC, which announced they would further build their A320neo Family fleets. The show ended with an impressive 144 firm orders and 202 commitments.

‎Since we are always looking to improve our existing product lines to keep up with both customer and passenger expectations, we launched several enhancements to our A320 and A380 families. The A320 has now joined the Airspace family and will reap the benefits of an enhanced interior equipped with the latest that cabin technology and design have to offer such as the largest overhead storage compartment in its class (we’ve called it the “Airspace bin”), iconic ceiling lighting, new lavatory design, and colored LED lighting, just to name a few.

We also launched the A380plus, which offers several enhancements to our largest, quietest and most spacious airliner, namely new winglets designed to improve aerodynamics and reduce drag and cabin innovations to increase seatcount.

All in all, another busy and exciting show for all of us that work for Airbus.