Macron kicks off Paris Air Show with airborne entrance
PARIS — The French president descended from the skies in a European military plane and Airbus and Boeing raced to impress with big plane orders as the Paris Air Show got underway Monday.
French President Emmanuel Macron landed at the Bourget airfield in an Airbus A400-M military transport plane to launch the aviation showcase, where the latest passenger jets will vie for attention with an F-35 warplane, drones and other high-tech hardware.
Macron, trying to raise his international profile, appears to have chosen the A400-M to give a boost of confidence to the long-troubled European military transporter project.
French fighter jets swooped overhead as the biennial aviation and defence industry kicked off.