Bumping into British PM David Cameron at the Farnborough Air Show
British Prime Minister David Cameron has had a very interesting few months, but there's one part of the job that's hard not to envy: VIP access at Farnborough. This week, I'm on the ground at the ever-important Farnborough International Airshow, held every other year just outside London.
The show kicked off this morning, and my first stop was Boeing's booth, since I hoped to score early access to the brand new Boeing 737 MAX, which is set to launch next year. Thankfully, that effort paid off — I managed to get on board — but due to a security mixup I also ended up with a pretty cool opportunity to (almost) rub shoulders with Britain's (now outgoing) PM, who seemed to be in an excellent mood throughout his Boeing booth visit.
Military aircraft appeared to be the focus of Cameron's visit, which followed an announcement that Boeing would be bringing 2,000 jobs to the UK, and that the country will be purchasing nine P-8A Poseidon Maritime Patrol Aircraft to beef up its search and rescue operation.
Only a few dozen Boeing employees and guests attended the visit, which centered around the UK's P-8A Poseidon acquisition.
Cameron spent five minutes or so chatting with a handful of Royal Air Force members, including some who will likely be operating the UK's new search and rescue aircraft once they're delivered in a few years.
Cameron seemed to be in very good spirits on the same day he announced his replacement, Theresa May.
And then after 10 or so minutes of shaking hands and touring the booth, Cameron and his entourage made their way to a waiting motorcade, and the Boeing team got back to work at Farnborough.
FIA is very similar to the Paris Air Show, which is held during odd-numbered years, vs. even-numbered years for Farnborough. Billions of dollars in aircraft deals are firmed up each time around, and more than 100,000 trade visitors attend — in other words, it's a pretty big deal.
We'll be bringing you plenty more from FIA 2016 throughout this week, so stay tuned!
See below for more from Farnborough 2016:
- Bumping into British PM David Cameron at the Farnborough Air Show
- Tour Boeing's Brand New 737 MAX, Launching with Southwest in 2017
- Inside the E2, Embraer's Next-Gen Regional Jet
- Touring the Bombardier CSeries Jet, Now Flying with Swiss
- Watch an F-35 Fighter Jet Hover at the 2016 Farnborough Air Show
- Check Out Qatar's All-Business-Class Airbus A319 Jet
- Inside the Gulfstream G650, One of the World's Fastest Business Jets
- Explore Qatar Airways' Incredible Gulfstream G650 Private Jet
- Take a Look Inside Honda's $4.5 Million Private Jet
- Comparing Economy Seat Pitch, from 29 to 34 Inches
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