Farnborough International Airshow 2024
Located 30 miles West of London, Farnborough is the spiritual home of aviation within the United Kingdom since 1904 when the Army Balloon Factory was established on the then Farnborough Common and Samuel Cody built and flew biplanes as long ago as 1906. Since then Farnborough became the primary site for experimental flying, through the creation of the Royal Aircraft Establishment such achievements as test evaluation of captured German aircraft designs, Concorde and many innovations to aircraft technologies and safety. It is due to this background in innovation and design that the Farnborough Airshow was created in the 1940s as the primary showcase for the UK aviation manufactures. This soon opened up to international manufactures and has become one of the leading trade shows for the world’s aeronautical industry both in terms of aircraft and their supply chain of goods and services.
Trade days
FIA covers five days unlike priovous years where traditionally the following weekend would host a public airshow. The first four days of the airshow are devoted to the aeronautical trade where behind closed doors deals are brokered between aircraft manufactures and their customers both civil and military. The fifth day is now branded "Pioneers of Aviation" a dedicated STEM focused event designed to encourage the next generation into the aeronautical industry.
Unlike previous years a large number of exhibitors did not have aircraft on display most notable being Boeing, Dornier, Dassult and Gulfstream. Those that chose to have aircraft on display were significantly reduced in the number of designs on show. Sadly this had a significant knock on effect with the daily flying demonstartions with some having to display twice per day to fill out the program. This maybe a reflection in the world markets and the cost of attending and displaying aircraft at FIA. The halls were however, full to capacity with all thing aeronautical from eVTOL mock ups to UAV, from nuts and bolts to Ejector seats with everything an operator could possibly need inbetween.
Future Flight
Each edition of FIA has a set theme and 2024 was no exception. One of the main themes being "Future Flight". The Electric and eVTOL sectors have grown considerably since 2022. The big players in the market displayed mock-ups of their solutions. Each solution included not just the electric or eVTOL aircraft themselves but also plans for the necessary infrastucture needed to sustain the services. Embraer for example have undertaken the design of eVTOL airports with sustainable charging stations, Air Traffic Control (ATC) software embedded within the Eve aircraft to intergrate with ATC requirements and have used helicopters to fly the proposed eVTOL routes in order to assess impact upon the environment and population.
The main differences within the eVTOL market that being whether or not the eVTOL aircraft is piloted or autonomous. This has an huge impact as to how the eVTOL market intergrates with ATC and airspace structures and will determine the success of the project.
Wisk Evolution 6
Wisk (owned by Boeing) was formed in 2010 to explore the eVTOL market. In 2022 they attended FIA with the Evolution 5 a two seat autonomous eVTOL aircraft. In 2024 Wisk brought their latest incarnation the Evolution 6 which is a four seat fully autonomus eVTOL aircraft.
Voltaero Cassio
French company Voltaero in partnership with Japan's Kawasaki introduced their Cassio 330 five seat hybred propulsion aircraft mockup. The Cassio range will eventually include Cassio 480 six seat and Cassio 600 ten to twelve seat hybred models. Initial sales were announce at FIA 24 with South East Asia operator Global Sky signing a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for 15 Cassio aircraft.
Lilium Pheonix eVTOL Jet
German company Lilium featured their new Pheonix piloted six seat eVTOL Jet. Powered by 30 electric motors embedded within the rotating wings and canards. Two test aircraft have been conducting trails in Spain both for proof of concept and development of the final product.
Embraer Eve
Eve is a four seat piloted eVTOL aircraft though as technology advances it will come in a six seat fully autonomous aircraft version. At FIA 24 Eve were able to announce that the long awaited prototype has been rolled out at Embraer test facilities in Brazil with a test flight program set to start before the end of 2024. Also that MOU signed with several carriers in North America, South America and Asia.
