=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SF Gate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/news/archive/2003/06/14/i= nternational1716EDT0549.DTL ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday, June 14, 2003 (AP) Slumping aviation business, no-shows dampens mood at Paris' venerable air s= how DAVID McHUGH, AP Business Writer (06-14) 14:16 PDT LE BOURGET, France (AP) -- No Russian MiG fighters. No U.S. top guns. Few really new aircraft. And a goodbye hug for the supersonic Concorde passenger jet, now a museum piece. It was a subdued Paris Air Show that opened to the press Saturday with a visit from President Jacques Chirac. The world's leading aviation trade conference, first held in 1909 -- just six years after the Wright brothers' historic flight, suffers this year from a slumping aviation industry and the U.S military's decision to keep top brass at home -- a move widely interpreted as retaliation for French opposition to the war in Iraq. One leading theme this year is unmanned aerial vehicles, which got a public relations boost from their successful use in combat by U.S. forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. Regional jets also are a focus, and French engine maker Snecma and Russia's Sukhoi touted plans to team up with Boeing on a new Russian regional jet. The plane, which would come in 60-, 75-, and 95-passenger versions, still is on the drawing board. But the Concorde provided the biggest spectacle Saturday, and Chirac watched the sleek, swept-wing craft land at Le Bourget airport. The planes have been taken out of service by Air France, and this particular Concorde was headed for the French Air and Space Museum at Le Bourget. British Airways, the only other carrier with a supersonic fleet, will retire its Concordes in October. With the plane grounded here for good, Air France crew members who have flown on Concordes climbed out on the wing to pose for goodbye snapshots. Many wore their uniforms for the occasion and lingered a bit. "In this plane there was a special spirit," said Air France pilot Eric Celerier, 57, who flew the plane from Paris to New York 400 times as first officer. "Anyone working on this plane was an enthusiast -- pilots, flight attendants, mechanics." The French president spent two hours in the exhibit halls, visiting European, Chinese and Russian stands. Chirac said he "very much favored" stronger cooperation between Europe and Russia and "in particular" between Russia and France. Chirac did not mention the United States government or American businesses. Exhibit space is down 5 percent this year from the last show in 2001 and the number of planes on display decreased from 226 to 206. Show organizers and most companies said the downturn in the airline industry was the main reason behind those decreases. The impact of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome in Asia, and a slow economy that cuts demand for business and pleasure travel have reduced airline orders for new planes. The two leading passenger plane makers, Boeing and Airbus, exhibited new versions of existing aircraft. Alan Mulally, the head of Boeing's commercial aircraft division, said airline finances remain strained and a turnaround was more than a year away. "There's a good chance we could have a recovery in deliveries by 2005," = he said. Boeing expects to deliver about 280 aircraft this year and up to 300 next year. It delivered 381 in 2002 and 527 in 2001. The show also was dampened by the Pentagon's decision to bar top-ranking officers from coming and the reduction in the number of U.S. aircraft from 11 to 6, with none putting on flight demonstrations. Major U.S. aerospace companies, who usually are defense suppliers, denied being pressured but fewer chief executive officers, such as Boeing's Phil Condit, and employees came. However, some companies have been cutting back spending on air shows for several years. In yet another blow, Russia's MiG and Sukhoi fighter jet designers kept their aircraft away, saying they feared they would be impounded by court action from a Swiss company, Noga. The company, which says the Russian government owes it more than $60 million from business deals in the early 1990s, tried to seize Russian planes at the last air show. =20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2003 AP