Schoenefeld, Berlin: Celebrations continue at ILA. While it was the ushering in of the centenary year of Europe’s oldest air show in 2008 which brought out the festoons, this year it was 10 years of the EADS Group which completely overshadowed everything else that was happening at ILA, as the Berlin Air Show is popularly called. So overwhelming was EADS’ presence, through several static displays, stands, chalets, outdoor pavilions and sponsorships that it would not be unfair to say that ILA 2010 belonged to EADS.

But EADS’ celebrations went beyond the show. The city of Berlin was adorned with various congratulatory advertisements to mark EADS’ achievement. And the company also took the opportunity to present itself as a consolidated group with diverse interests straddling defence and security not only to the world, but to its own. As part of its 10-year coming of age party, EADS got together nearly 10,000 school children all over Europe and opened its various facilities in different countries to them just before the air show. The idea was to instil a sense of appreciation and interest among them for aerospace and defence engineering. The celebrations culminated with ILA, where EADS flew an aircraft powered by biofuel made from algae, to mark its commitment not only towards innovation but environment as well.

Yet, despite all this if somebody else could make news and dominate the headlines in the show dailies, it was certainly no mean achievement. Serial newsmaker, Emirates, managed this feat by placing the order for 32 Airbus A380 aircraft for the total price of roughly USD 11.5 billion leading the beaming Airbus officials to claim that it was the single largest order ever placed in the history of civil aviation. Little wonder then, the headlines in the next day’s daily screamed, ‘Emirates Keeps on Asking for More’. This was not all. As the show progressed more cheer came Airbus’ way. Towards the end of the show, Chief Executive Officer, Airbus, Thomas Enders declared that the company sold 67 aircraft during ILA 2010. Clearly, the drought is over.