Officially billed COVID-19, the virus, which started in China, has since spread to more than two dozen countries worldwide. Of the 1,000 firms who had originally been announced as exhibiting, 70 have withdrawn from the event. Some have had no choice – 12 companies from China, for instance, faced a ban on arrivals in Singapore from the mainland. From farther afield, Lockheed Martin, Bombardier, De Havilland, Raytheon, Bell, Gulfstream, Textron Aviation, Honeywell Aerospace, Viking Air and CAE all decided not to attend the Air Show this year. Organisers said that there were 930 exhibitors and close to 30,000 attendees, which is a significant drop from 2018, when 54,000 participants attended.

Airbus was one company that did make the journey, and according to spokesman Sean Lee, it was worth it: “We were able to meet many customers, military delegations and other stakeholders.”

While deals have been announced, as the Show has instituted a ‘no contact’ policy, there have been none of the normal handshake pictures to accompany the announcements.