The Singapore Airshow 2024 marks the full-scale return of the region’s most important aviation event. According to the show organizer Experia Events, more than 1,000 companies from over 50 countries/regions are participating in the show, which is placing a strong focus on sustainability this year. The latest edition of the airshow, features 16 country pavilions, with China, the Czech Republic, and Korea opting for country pavilions for the first time. In all, over 50,000 trade attendees are expected to participate in the airshow with public access on weekends resuming after a hiatus of two editions.
China is making a strong statement at the show with its homegrown aircraft manufacturer COMAC displaying the C919, a narrow-body airliner, and the ARJ21 regional jet in addition to CATIC showcasing China’s made-for-export attack helicopter, the Z-10ME. Also making its debut at Changi is Embraer’s C-390 Millennium transport aircraft, along with Gulfstream’s G700 and Dassault’s Falcon 6X business jets. This year’s airshow features the largest number of foreign flying teams and includes the Indian Air Force’s Sarang (Peacock), helicopter display team, which is participating at the Singapore Airshow for the first time. New Electric Vertical Take-Off And Landing aircraft (eVTOLs) such as those by Eve Air Mobility and Wisk Aero are also being showcased along with a slew of sustainable aviation solutions that are commercially ready or in development, to enable collaborations and new partnerships that are key to the broader adoption and scalability of sustainable solutions.
Singapore is also taking the opportunity to highlight its growing aerospace ecosystem. The wealthy island nation is home to globally leading aerospace companies and has one of Asia’s largest and most diverse aerospace ecosystems. Speaking at the media briefing prior to the start of the airshow, Singapore’s Export Development Board (EDB) Executive Vice President Cindy Koh, said Singapore’s aerospace industry has experienced strong recovery and growth over the past three years. “Our MRO output recovery has outpaced the recovery of global aerospace MRO by a year.” In 2023, Singapore’s aerospace output grew strongly at 16% year-on-year.
There are over 130 aerospace companies in Singapore, including local small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) suppliers, undertaking activities across Research & Development (R&D); manufacturing; maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO); and aftermarket services. As a trusted location for manufacturing of mission-critical components like engine components and avionics, Singapore is also the place where MRO is performed for major engine platforms from top Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) which include GE Aerospace, Rolls-Royce, Pratt & Whitney, and CFM International. Companies in Singapore have also ramped up hiring over the past two years, with total aerospace employment increasing by almost 3,000 from 2021 to 2023, to over 21,000.
Koh said that since the last Airshow in 2022, EDB has been working with aerospace companies and attracted over 10 new projects. The companies involved in the projects have committed to invest more than S$750 million in Singapore over the next 3-5 years. These plans span across different parts of the aerospace value chain, including Engine MRO with Pratt & Whitney expanding their Singapore Engine Centre for the GTF engine fleet by more than 60%; Airframe MRO with ST Engineering building a new MRO facility in Changi with 4 new widebody aircraft hangars and strengthening its position as a leading global airframe MRO player and in Digital, where Thales has established an Air Traffic Management Centre of Excellence serving customers in Asia. ST Engineering’s new MRO facility will incorporate green and smart technologies including solar panels on its hangar roof, automated guided vehicles, and digital tools for paperless operations. Thales’ Remote ID product was also developed in Singapore is now being offered globally.
Neste’s Singapore refinery is the largest Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) producer in the world, producing up to one million tons per annum of SAF. With the completion of Neste’s expansion in 2023, Singapore is now home to the world’s largest production facility for SAF, producing up to 1 million tons per annum of SAF, which is being supplied to regional and international airlines at Changi Airport as well as customers farther away in Europe and North America.
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