THE Singapore Airshow, held as the global aviation industry regains its footing, racked up a better-than-expected US $10 billion of deals over the first three trade days.

'As the first major airshow taking place at the beginning of the year, the Singapore Airshow is in a position to gauge the pulse of the industry. A lot of interesting alliances have been made,' said Jimmy Lau, managing director of Singapore Airshow & Events (SAe). 'We look forward to the market picking up further as the industry rides the upturn.'

Already, airline operators are looking at reinstating some of the capacity cuts made during the recession, which in turn will boost maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) growth, Mr Lau said.

The US $10 billion sum so far falls slightly short of the US $13 billion-plus of deals sealed at the inaugural 2008 Airshow and the US $13 billion scored three months ago at the Dubai Airshow. However, it did beat Mr Lau's conservative forecast of US $5 billion.

The US $10 billion figure also does not take into account some contracts with values not divulged, suggesting the final tally will be bigger.

Some 40,000 trade attendees from 119 countries/regions are understood to have attended the show during the four trade days - slightly fewer than 43,000 in 2008. But the percentage of overseas visitors doubled this time around from 25 per cent to 50 per cent, which translated into good business for hotels.