Paris Airshow opens under cloud of India crash, Mideast conflict
The Paris Airshow opens on Monday with its usual fanfare of aircraft orders expected to be tempered by concerns over India's deadliest air disaster and escalating missile strikes between Israel and Iran that have rattled the global aviation industry.
Every two years, Le Bourget Airport in the northeast of Paris is transformed into a showcase for the aerospace and defence industry, its sprawling tarmac lined with fighter jets, commercial airliners and autonomous drones.
In the pristine white chalets along the flight line, aerospace executives, government officials and military delegations gather to strike deals and discuss the geopolitical forces shaping the future of aviation.
Delegates say they expect this year's event from June 16-20 to be more sombre and several public activities to be scaled back after last week's air disaster, when an Air India Boeing 787 crashed shortly after takeoff, killing over 240 people.
Investigators are gathering data on the engine, wing flaps and landing gear, though it is too early to draw conclusions, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters in India.
India's aviation regulator has ordered safety checks on the airline's 787 fleet.
The industry has also been shaken by missile strikes between Iran and Israel, which erupted on Friday - just a day after the India crash - forcing carriers to cancel or divert thousands of flights in the latest upheaval to travel in the region.
Aerospace and defence executives are also grappling with uncertainty over U.S. President Donald Trump's shifting tariff policies, which many say have been impacting aircraft, engines and parts, disrupting global supply chains, driving up production costs and straining international partnerships.
The show's opening coincides with the 10th anniversary of Trump's first run for office in 2015 ahead of his first term. But it is the trade policies of his second term that have caused the industry to defend its previous tariff-free status, as a pause in his "Liberation Day" tariffs nears a July 8 deadline.
Airbus Poland win expected
Boeing's CEO Kelly Ortberg and Commercial Airplanes boss Stephanie Pope cancelled their trip to Paris and the U.S. planemaker is scaling back its schedule at the event as it focuses on supporting the India crash probe.
The planemaker is eager to keep a low-key presence and avoid any jarring publicity, though it was too late to remove Boeing advertising banners dominating the venue. Behind Boeing's chalet at Le Bourget, a gleaming Riyadh Air 787 sits on the tarmac.
Boeing is emerging from back-to-back safety, industrial and corporate crises triggered by fatal accidents involving the smaller 737 MAX, which is a separate model to the newer 787.
Aircraft deals will still be announced at the show, where European politics are also driving some of the discussions.
Sources told Reuters that Poland is expected to announce Airbus as the winner of a landmark deal to sell around 47 A220 jets to state carrier LOT - part of a wider reset of relations between Poland and France, where Airbus has its headquarters.
Brazil's Embraer had pushed hard for the deal, the people said. None of the parties agreed to comment.
Airbus is also the front-runner against the same planemaker for a potential order for dozens of A220 jets from AirAsia, with Airbus reviving a proposal for a tighter 160-seat cabin layout while separately showing airlines a stretched version featuring existing Pratt Whitney engines, sources said.
Boeing has shelved most announcements including a fleet shake-up by long-time customer Royal Air Maroc, but had already been heading for a quieter week than Airbus after pre-empting the show with big orders during Trump's recent Gulf visit.
The air show is also an opportunity for established and emerging defence and space companies to showcase cutting-edge technologies such as AI and autonomy.
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Soldiers film themselves flattening apartment blocks and posing in the lingerie of the women they've displaced and killed. Families buried in concrete, children erased from classrooms - all in the name of 'security'. In Jerusalem, Al-Aqsa Mosque, one of Islam's holiest sites, is stormed repeatedly. Israeli mobs march through the streets chanting: 'May your villages burn.' They celebrate the destruction of schools in Gaza. Genocide is no longer denied; it's declared. And Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the architect of apartheid and war, stands before the cameras claiming to defend the 'free world'. Across the Arab world, people are watching - bitter, disgusted and enraged. Their leaders shake hands with war criminals. They normalise while Israel incinerates. The region has been paralysed, powerless. Until now. Because this time, someone stood up. Iran is not Gaza. It is a sovereign state of around 90 million people, stretching across 1.65 million square kilometres. 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Most know 1953, when the CIA and MI6 orchestrated a coup against Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh after he nationalised Iran's oil. Operation Ajax toppled a democratically elected government and reinstated Mohammad Reza Shah, a western-aligned dictator. What followed was 25 years of repression, enforced by the Savak secret police, armed and trained by the West. By allowing Israel to bomb Iran, Trump is pushing Tehran to go nuclear Read More » But the wounds stretch back further. In the early 1890s, a revolt shook the empire after the shah handed a British company control of Iran's entire tobacco industry. Led by clerics like Ayatollah Shirazi, Iranians launched a nationwide boycott, and the concession was ultimately cancelled. The revolt weakened the Qajar dynasty and planted in Iran's collective memory a searing lesson: never again bow to foreign control. That memory still lives - in every chant, every protest, every funeral. Every missile launched today carries the weight of a century of betrayal and resistance. Now, it's raw again. A clip has gone viral: an unveiled Iranian woman, her voice breaking with fury, denounces the genocide in Gaza, the silence of the West, and the decades of degradation inflicted on her country. Then she shouts: 'We want a nuclear bomb.' This isn't about destruction. It's about dignity. It's about saying: we will not be broken again. This is not just a military conflict, but a historical reckoning - a psychological rupture. Iran isn't just retaliating. It's remembering. And the shift is spreading. Clinging to fantasy Pakistan, the only Muslim-majority country with nuclear weapons, has sounded the alarm. Its defence minister has warned that the region is on the brink, and Pakistan could be next. As Israel deepens its alliance with India, Islamabad sees what's coming. Turkey, too, is on alert. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned last year that Israel would 'set its sights' on his country if it was 'not stopped'. Then came a chilling retort from Netanyahu in the Knesset: 'The Ottoman Empire will not be revived anytime soon.' This is not a history lesson, but a warning. Turkey knows this is not about Iran alone; it is a campaign to reassert full-spectrum control over the region. Israel, high on western backing and unchecked power, now believes it can subjugate the entire Muslim world: bomb it, starve it, fragment it, humiliate it. Israel thought it could repeat the past: assassinate, bomb, claim victory. But now Tel Aviv, Haifa and Ashkelon are under fire But the region is waking up. This is a war on dignity, on the very idea that anyone in this region dares to stand tall. And still, the West clings to fantasy. The BBC interviews the shah's son, asking if Israeli strikes might help 'liberate' Iran. As if Iranians are waiting to be saved by the son of a dictator - a dictator they themselves overthrew. As if 'freedom' comes from missiles and monarchs. Israel thought it could repeat the past: assassinate, bomb, claim victory. But now Tel Aviv, Haifa and Ashkelon are under fire. The war has entered Israeli soil. The illusion of invulnerability is over. And Iran can endure. It has been preparing for this moment for decades. The dream that Israel could destroy it in days is gone. Tel Aviv has lit a fire it cannot contain. And the West? It stands behind Israel again - mask off. Arming it, shielding it, using it. Not for peace or justice, but for control. But this time, the region is awake. And the reckoning has begun. History is moving. And it may not move in the West's favour. The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.
