The Chinese pavilion at the Singapore Air Show was sparsely attended on day one. (Colin Clark/Staff)
SINGAPORE AIR SHOW: As was expected amidst the two-year global pandemic, crowd numbers at this year’s Singapore Air Show are down — and the most notable change appears to be the drop in Chinese companies attending.
China’s declared policy of eliminating all COVID from within its borders almost certainly affected the participation of its companies, as that policy limits the ability of Chinese citizens to come and go from the country. But the few employees of the Chinese company AVIC at their stand declined to discuss the issue, citing their country’s policy barring them from talking with foreign reporters without permission. One did claim that they had seen considerable interest in their products here at the show — a typical line all industry representatives, from around the world, always say regardless of truth.
At the start of the week, show organizers Experia predicted there would be 13,000 trade visitors and roughly 600 companies from more than 39 countries or regions at Singapore, representing more than 70% of the top 20 global aerospace companies. That’s down from 30,000 trade visitors and 990 companies in 2020, the last major air show to happen before COVID-19 truly became a worldwide issue. A full two years later, and the pandemic’s impact remains strong but not crippling; the complete absence today of the general public, which was barred from the show in light of the threat from COVID-19, was stark.
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Singapore, which boasts an impressively robust defense and aerospace sector for such a small country (less than six million people), has striven to maintain its aerospace and defense workforce throughout the pandemic, providing almost two years of wage support. The island state’s aerospace and defense sector, with its more than 130 companies, could easily have been crippled with many of its 21,000 workers forced to stay home.
“COVID changed our lives in so many ways,” Lim Tse Yong, vice president of capital goods and conglomerates for the Singapore Economic Development Board, told AIN Online.
During the lunchtime aerial display today, two of the Singapore Air Force’s AH-64D Apache helicopter performed intriguing paired maneuvers, but the clear crowd-pleaser was the extended hover executed by an F-35B from US Marine Corps Fighter Attack Squadron 121 at Iwakuni. Dozens of members of the crowd braving the intense humidity and bright sun surged forward to film it as the plane’s fan jet pounded the waters outside Changi Airport.
Singapore, which has purchased four of the F-35B models and may procure more in the future, expects to take possession of the fifth-gen fighter in 2026.
