By Scott Hamilton
June 11, 2025, © Leeham News: Don’t look for big news at the Paris Air Show, which begins on Monday and runs through Thursday.
There won’t be any program launches. Orders from ATR, Airbus, Boeing and Embraer shouldn’t be anything huge. The engine makers won’t have anything new to announce, except perhaps Pratt & Whitney Canada. PWC has quietly been developing a small version of the Open Fan engine for MAEVE, a start-up Netherlands/German company.
The obvious question is whether the sibling, “big” Pratt & Whitney, is developing a full-size version for mainline jets. At big PW’s air show briefing, president Rick Deurloo vowed it’s only interest is an evolution of the Geared Turbo Fan engine.
Maeve and Pratt & Whitney Canada revealed a re-design by Maeve of its proposed 76-100 seat, five-abreast regional airliner powered by a new-design Open Fan engine. Credit: Maeve.
MAEVE is developing a 76-100 seat, five abreast aircraft aimed straight at the US Scope Clause-restricted market. It went public this week with its concept, which has operating specifications that directly compete with Embraer’s older generation E175 E1. MAEVE’s airplane is a hybrid-electric aircraft.
Downsized air show
Boeing won’t have any of its current passenger jets on display. This is a reflection of Boeing’s cost cutting this year and focus on completing certification of the 737 MAX 7/10 and 777X. It will have a mockup of the 777X interior, however.
In fact, a few manufacturers are increasingly questioning the worth of an air show vs the cost. The Paris and Farnborough Air Shows (and others) were suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic. The industry got along just fine without them. Boeing’s presence at Farnborough last year was smaller than pre-COVID, for cost reasons.
Boeing is not the only company wondering whether continued participation in the show is worthwhile. In private conversation—hence, no names here—the oft-repeated complaints about cost and benefit arises. Additionally, the fourth day of the industrial part of the air show—a Thursday—is usually a day when few announcements are made.
Leeham News will be at Paris
LNA will be at the air show. For a news organization, “everybody” is in one place at one time. In our case, we tend to work the supply chain more than the manufacturing side. But there are plenty of press briefings set up by Airbus, Boeing, GE, Pratt & Whitney, suppliers and defense industry companies.
We’ll not be paying daily attention to announced orders—plenty of other outlets will cover these. But we will have plenty of coverage during and after the show.
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