By Georges VILLE, former Deputy Director of Aircraft Division at Aerospatiale, former President of Air and Space Academy

The growth of air transport since the mid 20^th century made it possible to meet the travel demands of a newly mobile world: from 1950 to 2000, air traffic (in terms of passenger-kilometres) grew a hundredfold. This extraordinary exploit was achieved largely thanks to the advent of the subsonic jet aircraft in 1952; a full half century later, the product concept remains unchanged, although technological improvements have considerably improved its performance. In order to satisfy a consistently high demand for transport in the 21^st century, European civil aeronautical manufacturers will have to take up the challenges in the following areas: marketing, technology, energy, environment, industrial, competitive and monetary..