SINGAPORE AIRSHOW 2020: Coronavirus becomes a dirty word as show organisers try to put a brave face on event after companies pull out

The 2020 version of the Singapore Airshow has not even officially begun and organisers are already clearly unhappy with the event, the media, companies that have pulled out of the show due to the global spread of the Wuhan coronavirus and they clearly don’t want to answer questions about why they are proceeding with the show after the Singaporean government raised the city-state’s virus alert to its second-most serious level. At the media preview on Sunday (9 Feb), the managing director of organisers Experia Events, Leck Chet Lam, tried to put a brave face on the show’s prospects by saying less than 8 percent of the companies that had signed up to participate had withdrawn due to the coronavirus, which to date has killed more than 800 people, more than the 2002-2003 SARS outbreak. A screenshot of the real-time virus tracker from Johns Hopkins University in the US. (PHOTO: Matt Driskill) Following a recital of events that are expected to continue at the downsized show this year, Experia officials opened the floor to questions from the press but requested that questions about the virus and its impact on the show be held to the end. They were sorely disappointed when the first question was about the virus, as were the majority of the rest of the media’s questions. To add insult to injury, the briefing was interrupted by a fire alarm about 10 minutes after it had begun. Leck, Experia’s managing director, did his best to spin the show as a positive, but admitted about 70 companies had pulled out, the aircraft on display were down from about 55 in 2018 to 40-45 this year and said all companies from mainland China had also decided to skip the show because of travel restrictions affecting mainland China companies. China’s PLA Air Force acrobatic team did manage to arrive in Singapore and has cleared health checks and performed at the media preview. While trade visitors and show organisers will obviously be disappointed with this year’s Singapore Airshow, the general public will be feeling the pinch even more. Experia Events said it would sell half the planned number of tickets it originally planned to sell because of the virus and because Singapore has raised the alert level to DORSCON Orange, which means that organisers of large-scale events should either defer or cancel those events. Experia’s Leck said his company was working with the Singaporean government to “monitor” the coronavirus situation, but said people are making their way to Singapore “of their own accord”. When asked if the show were to be cancelled because of the virus would exhibitors be refunded their money, Leck testily said: “That’s between us and the exhibitors.” No one is expecting the 2020 Singapore Airshow to be a fountain of new deals because companies generally save those announcements for the major shows in Paris or Farnborough. That was the situation in 2018 when Experia Events cancelled the normal end-of-show press conference because so few deals were announced then. Demand for new planes is down, Boeing’s mainstay 737 MAX remains grounded and airlines have lots of planes already on order that remain to be delivered. Organisers are also asking that attendees change their social behaviours by using alternative forms of greeting like bowing instead of shaking hands. Experia earlier announced that all events at the show will be “seat-tagged”, meaning a ticket will be placed on each seat and attendees will be asked to retain those tickets for several weeks following the end of the show. Experia Events, organisers of the 2020 Singapore Airshow, are using so-called “seat-tags” and asking people to keep the tags for weeks after the show to make it easier to trace potential virus victims. (PHOTO: Matt Driskill) Experia Events said they were expecting about 930 companies from 45 countries and 45,000 trade attendees compared to 2018 when there were 54,000 trade attendees and 1,062 firms as the event contributed US$247 million to the local economy. In addition to the Chinese acrobatic team, a US F-35B and the F-22 raptor will be on display. The United States will fly the F-35B a month after it gave approval for Singapore to purchase up to 12 of the jets. Manufacturer Lockheed Martin Corp has, however, pulled out of the show and the Pentagon has reduced its participation. The announcement of the first appearance of China’s People’s Liberation Army Air Force aerobatics team, Ba Yi, with J-10 fighters was a last-minute surprise, given Singapore’s travel restrictions due to the virus that led 10 Chinese exhibitors to pull out from the show.