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By Scott Hamilton

June 2, 2025, © Leeham News: Little in the way of product development or new airplanes is expected at the Paris Air Show, which begins on June 16. No new commercial airplane programs will be forthcoming from Airbus, Boeing, or Embraer. Nor will any new commercial engines be forthcoming from GE Aerospace, Pratt & Whitney, Rolls-Royce, or CFM International (a GE-Safran joint venture).

Instead, the air show briefings are most likely to be progress reports, discussions about new materials and sustainability.

One new entrant that is still in the research and development stage, with the production of a demonstrator aircraft underway, is JetZero. The start-up is developing a 250-passenger Blended Wing Body airplane (BWB) designed for the middle of the market (250-300 seats) currently occupied by the aging Airbus A330-200/300 and Boeing 767-300ER; and the newer Boeing 787-8 and Airbus A330neo.

JetZero has daunting tasks ahead to successfully bring its BWB, called the Z4, to the market. It needs $7bn to $10bn (it has, publicly, less than $300m). JetZero plans to make a site selection announcement any day now, before the air show. An entirely new production plant is required. It needs to build the plant, production tooling and the final assembly line.

One of the keys to the program is the reliance on a digital twin production plant and innards. JetZero has hired the giant firm Siemens to help design the digital twin, an effort that Siemens officials predict will reduce the time to build the facility by 20%-30 %.

Boeing and Airbus have identified advanced production processes as key to the next new airplane, whatever it may be. When Boeing was pondering the New Midmarket Airplane (NMA) for the Middle of the Market (MOM), officials said production was more important than the airplane itself.