Our air show

It has long been a hallmark of aerospace that politics influences the industry as much as economics does. But the nine- day Indonesia Air Show which opened at Soekarno-Hatta airport last weekend reflects the increasing international recognition of Indonesia's growing role in the aerospace industry and Asia's greatly promising market for new commercial and military aircraft.

Politics alone would not have been enough to attract so many major aerospace companies to take part in the air show. The organization of an international air show, besides requiring high-quality technical preparation and complex logistical arrangements, is much more expensive than the usual trade exhibitions. The exercise also exacts high costs on the exhibitors. No wonder not many countries, even industrialized ones, stage international aerospace exhibitions.

The Indonesia Air Show's organizing committee should be commended for its capability to attract nearly all the major manufacturers of commercial and military aircraft. The achievement is even more significant because Singapore and Malaysia regularly stage international aerospace shows which by and large feature the same exhibitors in the current air show.

There are, we reckon, two primary factors which prompted the 257 companies to participate in the show. The professional organization of the show and price competitiveness is surely one reason. The promising market in the Asia-Pacific region is the other compelling factor because the exhibitors come here not only to promote sales in the Indonesian market but also in the Asian region.

The ultimate success of the show will undoubtedly be measured by the sum of business deals concluded or other forms of agreements or market recognition which eventually lead to firm contracts. It is understandable, therefore, that the first five days of the show have been restricted to business and professional visitors.

It is still too soon to assess the commercial performance of the show. Indonesia's state-owned PT Industri Pesawat Terbang Nusantara aerospace company did sign a number of sales contracts for its N-250 turboprop aircraft which is slated to enter the market in 1998, and the N-2130 jetliner which is scheduled to be rolled out in 2004.

We do not mean to belittle the significance of these deals but these contracts cannot be attributed to the show. Moreover, the signing of the contracts seemed to have been timed to coincide with the show. We get the impression that the deals with state and private companies are 50 percent politics and 50 percent economics. What will count greatly and determine the fate of the next show will be the business deals or points of sales leads gained by foreign exhibitors.

We are therefore surprised by the government's bold decision to step up the frequency of the international air show -- from once a decade to one every two years -- and to expand the event into Asia-Pacific Hi-Tech and Aerospace Show. True, as President Soeharto noted in his opening address at the air show, the progress in aerospace technology has been quite rapid. Nonetheless, holding such a hi-tech exhibition every other year risks degrading the quality of the show in view of the increasingly keen competition, which is a result of the proliferation of similar shows in other countries.

Despite the rapid progress in aerospace technology, the life cycle of aerospace products, being highly capital intensive and requiring high economies of scale, is much longer than most other manufactured goods. Attracting high-quality exhibitors with new hi-tech products to an international show at Soekarno-Hatta airport area every two years would be a formidable task.