The Paris Air Show marks its 100th anniversary Monday amid rain, a gloomy economic forecast and lingering uncertainty over Airbus aircraft, following the still unexplained Air France crash over the Atlantic Ocean, two weeks ago.
巴黎航展星期一在雨中拉开序幕。今年是巴黎航展100周年。然而伴随着黯淡的经济预期，以及两周前法航客机在大西洋上空莫明其妙失事给空中客车公司带来的不确定性，这次巴黎航展显得缺乏生气。
The mood should have been celebratory, to fete the Paris Air Show's first century of existence, but the week-long industry event instead opened Monday with the doldrums. Airline, passenger and freight traffic has dropped in 2009 for the first time since 2001.
巴黎航展百岁，本应为其长达一个世纪的历程而充满喜庆气氛，可是星期一开始的这次历时一周的航空业聚会却显得十分沉闷。全球航空业，不论是客运还是货运，在2009年都大幅下滑，这种情况是2001年以来首次出现。
And, airline companies are cutting staff to weather the global economic and financial crisis. Overall, the International Air Transport Association has warned airlines will lose about nine billion dollars this year.
为了应对全球经济和金融危机，很多航空公司都在裁减员工。国际航空运输协会警告说，全球航空公司今年会总共损失大约90亿美元。
The crisis has also forced airlines to scrap or delay plans to buy new planes. Analyst Pierre Condom says tight credit is only making matters worse.
经济危机也迫使航空公司放弃或推迟购买新飞机。市场分析人士彼埃尔·康敦说，信贷紧缩也使情况更加糟糕。
Condom told French radio there are few new orders for planes this year because airlines are having a hard time borrowing money from banks to finance new airplane purchases. And, airlines do not know when the economic crisis will be over, which also makes them reluctant to purchase.
康敦对法国广播电台说，今年新的飞机订单寥寥无几，因为航空公司很难从银行获得贷款来购买新飞机。同时，由于不知经济危机何时结束，航空公司在采购方面犹豫不决。
The Air France crash over the Atlantic Ocean has also cast a shadow over the air show. The investigation into the crash is focusing on chances that faulty speed sensors may have helped cause the crash. The A330 aircraft in question is made by European aeronautics giant Airbus, which announced it would replace old speed sensors on all its A330 and A340 models.
发生在大西洋上空的法航客机坠毁事件也给本届航展蒙上一层阴影。目前调查工作集中在可能导致飞机失事的航速测量仪故障上。坠毁的A330客机是欧洲航空业巨头空中客车公司生产的。空客表示，将更换所有安装在A330和A340型飞机上的航速测量仪。
Still, the news is not completely gloomy. There is sunny weather forecast for the Paris Air Show later this week and about 300,000 visitors are expected to attend this year's event. Boeing executive Scott Carson told reporters on Monday that he expected the aviation sector would start to recover next year.
不过，也并非只有令人沮丧的消息。天气预报说，本周晚些时候天气会转晴。而且预计有大约30万来访者将出席今年的巴黎航展。波音公司首席执行官斯科特·卡尔森周一对记者说，他预计航空业将在明年开始复苏。 |