[Text: Observer Network Columnist Gao Tianwei].
Recently, it was reported that during the 2024 Singapore Airshow, the staff of an Airbus A400M military transport aircraft belonging to the Luftwaffe refused to allow Chinese nationals to board the plane to visit, but it was open to personnel from other countries, which was suspected of "nationality discrimination".
This news was confirmed by many people who participated in the air show.
Screenshot of the WeChat official account of the Global Times.
After more than a day of fermentation, Airbus said on the evening of February 25 that the company had no intention of restricting the identity of visitors and apologized to the audience for the inadequacies of the previous on-site work. The company has adapted its efforts to ensure that visitors can board the A400M "regardless of nationality". According to feedback from netizens, on the 25th, everyone could indeed line up to board the plane.
Airbus issued a statement on its official Weibo on the evening of February 25.
Why is Airbus' attitude changing before and after?Will the "rejection of Chinese audiences" still happen at foreign air shows?How should this kind of problem be dealt with?
Airshow business is complex and error-prone, but Airbus cannot avoid responsibility.
The Singapore Airshow is one of the world's top five world-class aviation events in terms of deal size, and our country has also sent a strong lineup to participate in this year's exhibition, including the C919 and ARJ21. In addition to continuing to promote civil aircraft products, Airbus, a veteran aircraft manufacturer, also sent a military transport aircraft A400M, which has the strongest comprehensive performance developed in Europe, to the scene.
A400M is a new generation of military transport aircraft developed in Europe, which entered service in 2013;Length 438 meters, wingspan 424 meters, height 146 meters, the maximum capacity is 37 tons, and the maximum range is 9,300 kilometers. Picture from Airbus.
The exhibiting aircraft of the air show and the accompanying support team generally have 3 attributes:
1. Aircraft manufacturers' owned, such as prototype test machines for passenger aircraft, as well as listed products that have not yet been delivered to customers and whose property rights still belong to the manufacturer;
2. The manufacturer temporarily leases and borrows from the user, for example, the A400M involved in this incident belongs to the Luftwaffe, and its visit and demonstration are jointly organized by Airbus and the German army;
3. Users participate in the exhibition on their own, which has nothing to do with the manufacturer, for example, the Greek Air Force sent the American-made C-130 transport aircraft to the United Kingdom to participate in the air show, which is generally managed by the user himself, and the manufacturer does not participate.
A model of aircraft can be used by multiple users, or even produced by several manufacturers. The country, political position, corporate culture, personnel literacy, and communication level of these units ......It is different, so at large-scale air shows, "you can, I can't", "yesterday you can, today you can't, tomorrow you can again" and other different treatments, and even become a common object of complaints.
Taking the author's personal experience as an example, at a large-scale air show in the Middle East, he was asked to leave by a US soldier when he was shooting close to the US military apron; The Air Force of the Middle East next door, or even more advanced fighters of the same type, welcome visitors into the cockpit at any time, and even the visitors will poke their upper bodies into the engine to take pictures without interference.
Returning to the A400M jointly managed by Airbus and the Luftwaffe at the Singapore Air Show, combined with Airbus's two statements, there were also a small number of Chinese nationals boarding the plane to visit in the first half of the air show, and finally there were no restrictions, and it was judged that Airbus itself should have no intention of restricting the nationality of visitors, but whether the group's ideas were fully transmitted to the front-line staff in a comprehensive and timely manner, and whether there was a full publicity and implementation ...... to the Luftwaffe and other exhibitorsObviously, there was a problem with the communication in between.
In addition, if the attitude of "rejecting Chinese" is not good, and some netizens even describe the on-site staff in the verbal conflict with the Airbus logo, and they manage the exhibits under the name of Airbus, then Airbus cannot avoid the responsibility for the words and deeds of these staff members - whether the relevant staff are permanent employees, temporary workers or from other units.
Airbus aircraft perform at the Singapore Airshow 2024. Picture from Airbus.
In the general environment, "rejecting Chinese audiences" may become the "norm" for airshow-type activities
Although Airbus has substantively responded to the relevant demands of the "A400M incident" in a top-down manner, the "rejection of Chinese audiences" has indeed occurred, even if it is only a few staff members or units and departments making their own claims, which shows that there is a considerable market for China's defensive and even confrontational attitude in Western countries. In some other air shows, the "rejection" has even been implemented, and even a certain "mass base" has been generated.
The author synthesizes the information of relevant people at the air show, and in 2023 alone, there have been many similar incidents, such as the air show in Iwakuni, Japan, which once did not restrict the nationality of visitors, and clearly stated that it was not open to Chinese; For another example, at the Australian Airshow in early 2023, it was exposed that some local people and security experts "reported" that Chinese students who were normally visiting the exhibition were spies; Even the "air-to-air photography service", which is all the rage in Europe and the United States, with a ticket price of more than 100,000 yuan per person and a large amount of revenue for Western air shows (that is, ticket buyers can take a special plane to photograph other flying planes in the air), has been rumored to impose restrictions on Chinese photographers - for the sake of "political correctness", they can not live with the money they have earned for many years.
Several Chinese face photographers who were suspected of being "spies" at the Australian Airshow, these ** and related "accusations" were even sent to the famous ** Daily Mail in the West. Later, under the ** of the Australian Chinese and overseas Chinese and international student groups, the relevant reports were deleted, and the incident was finally closed.
The air show is a continuation of politics, and it is impossible to stay away from the global environment of rising conservatism and populism and nationalism. It can be expected that the "rejection of Chinese audiences" may happen again in the future, and even more and more and more will be put on the table.
The scene of the 2023 Australian Airshow. The picture is from the official website of the air show.
Don't forget the original intention, self-esteem and self-improvement: self-confidence and wisdom in dealing with foreign-related air shows.
Although some new situations and new problems have indeed emerged, it is certain that most of the world's air shows, especially important commercial air shows, are still friendly to Chinese audiences; A fair and open international environment is also the unremitting pursuit of our country, so there is no need for friends who intend to observe the air show to choke on food, not to mention that there is no "choking" in the end this time.
If you encounter unfair treatment such as suspected discrimination during the air show, you can immediately report it to the organizer or the senior management of the exhibition organizer and ask for a solution. After the A400M incident, some netizens with good foreign language proficiency communicated with the organizers of the Singapore Airshow and the Airbus headquarters in a reasonable and well-founded manner, believing that their actions contributed to the resolution of the incident.
Finally, it is worth mentioning that with the improvement of China's scientific and technological strength and the further deepening of opening up, more and more Chinese aircraft will also appear at international air shows, and they will also face the actual needs of display and promotion.
In this regard, the author's advice is "self-confidence and self-improvement". If you decide to open up, then try not to set restrictions, and let the audience around the world feel the charm of "Made in China"; If it can only be partially opened or not open due to factors such as reception capacity and national policies, then it should also be explained in advance as much as possible, and the rules should be clarified to give the audience appropriate expectations and be above board.
Openness, inclusiveness and cooperation will eventually become the mainstream of the world.
In 2022, our military Y-20 aircraft participated in the Austrian "Air Power" air show and was warmly welcomed. Picture from Xinhua News Agency.