Watching signals

"For us, it will be a matter of watching for signals from Beijing. If they make it clear that Hong Kong is an important event for them, we'll have to be there," said a spokesman for one of the largest U.S. aerospace firms.

That quote in a Reuters round-up on Asian Aerospace makes it overwhelmingly clear why Reed has chosen a China/Asia location for the show when it moves from Singapore.

The flip side of this is restrictions on defense sales to China which will limit the range of products on show (although Hong Kong does come under a different export controls regime to the rest of China). Another company officials is quoted as noting that "This is China we're talking about, of course. So you're not going to see an F-15 flying around".

We'll give the air show stuff a rest for a while. It's been fun watching though!