The 2025 Paris Air Show’s first trade day opened with excitement and controversy, as several Israeli defence stands were covered up and closed on instructions from the French government. This move was reportedly in response to the escalating Israel-Iran conflict. Despite this, defence was a significant topic at the show, with several announcements and unveilings.
According to Aerosociety.com, UK Industry Minister Sarah Jones announced over £250m of funding for greener air travel ahead of the government’s Industrial Strategy. The funding will support thousands of jobs across the UK and go to “cutting-edge green aerospace tech projects” at companies including Rolls-Royce, GKN, and Airbus.
The projects being supported include Airbus’ ZEROe Development Centre, which will test liquid hydrogen fuel systems, and Rolls-Royce’s Aerothermal netZero TEChnologies (Aztec) programme to improve engine efficiency and reduce CO₂ emissions. Intelligent Energy’s Hydrogen Efficient fuel cell InteGrated in a High Temperature System (HEIGHTS) programme will receive £17m to develop a high-temperature hydrogen fuel cell system for aviation.
Airbus ended the day with a total of 132 firm orders for Airbus aircraft, from four customers. The company revealed that Saudi Arabian lessor AviLease had placed an initial order for ten A350F freighters and 30 A320neo Family aircraft. Riyadh Air, the new premium international airline based in Saudi Arabia, placed a firm order for 25 A350-1000 aircraft with options for a further 25.
LOT Polish Airlines has placed a firm order for 20 A220-100s and 20 A220-300s as part of its fleet modernisation. This is the first time Poland’s national carrier has selected Airbus aircraft, and the order includes options on a further 44 machines.
Dassault Aviation unveiled a 1:1 scale model of its stealthy combat drone, the UCAV, which is optimised for use with the company’s Rafale fighters. The drone is powered by the same Snecma M88-4e turbofan as the Rafale.
BETA Technologies’ Alia eCTOL made its Paris Air Show debut in the flying display, demonstrating a ‘step by step’ approach to the roll-out of Advanced Air Mobility (AAM). The company is focusing on cargo and passengers with its eCTOL version first, before moving on to the more challenging eVTOL version.
Rolls-Royce CEO Tufan Erginbilgic defended his decision to back away from R&D into electric aviation, citing the high cost of electric aircraft and the need for a hybrid propulsion system. The company is now focusing on small nuclear reactors (SMRs) as part of its energy transition.
The CEOs of more than 30 companies, including Air France-KLM, SAS, and easyJet, have signed an open letter calling on European governments to commit funding for an e-SAF pilot auction to kickstart the e-SAF industry in Europe.
Airbus Defence and Space signed an MoU with Quantum Systems to work on solutions to seamlessly integrate tactical aerial reconnaissance into modern command and information systems. The partnership aims to strengthen European technological sovereignty and provide users with full control over technology, data, and further development of the systems.
The state of Galileo, Europe’s Global Navigation Satellite System, was discussed at the ESA Stand in the Paris Space Hub. The goal is to ensure Galileo satellites are adaptable and flexible as future requirements are unknown and ever-changing.
Lockheed Martin briefed on the F-35 fighter, with the long-awaited ‘Block 4’ upgrade a key topic. The company highlighted recent successes in fast-tracking multidomain capabilities, allowing a friendly artillery unit to engage and destroy an enemy unit “just minutes after being detected” by the F-35.
Anduril’s Fury combat drone made its Paris Air Show debut as one of two USAF CCAs (Collaborative Combat Aircraft) in development. The UCAV is currently ground testing with the USAF, with a first flight planned for this summer.
PTC has teamed up with French GA manufacturer and sustainability specialist Aura Aero to demonstrate new model-based definition (MBD) capabilities within its PTC Onshape computer-aided design (CAD) software.
Greenerwave, in collaboration with Safran Passenger Innovations, is using the show to announce joint research into technology that it claims will “revolutionise in-flight connectivity”.
Pratt & Whitney sign a long-term EngineWise comprehensive maintenance services agreement with Cebu Pacific, and Frontier Airlines has selected Pratt & Whitney’s GTF engines to power a further 91 Airbus A321neo aircraft.
The Structural Battery Company has announced that it is strengthening a partnership with battery manufacturer Hyperbat to accelerate structural battery integration across the aerospace and defence sectors.
GKN Aerospace announced that it is collaborating with an Airbus-led ICEFlight programme to accelerate maturation of cryogenic technologies for hydrogen-powered flight.
De Havilland Canada announced the sale of a Dash 8-400 aircraft to Barrick Gold Corporation, one of the world’s largest gold mining companies.
ATR and Pratt & Whitney Canada indicated their intent to collaborate on the development of advanced propulsion technology for the next generation of regional low-emission turboprops.
PTC Onshape combines model-based definition with CAD, allowing engineers to create a complete digital definition of a product by embedding all common product manufacturing information directly into the 3D CAD model, stated Aerosociety.com.
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