Strong airline profits and higher defence spending have boosted the outlook for aerospace firms gathering for next week’s Singapore Airshow, but after a surge of activity in 2017 the event is expected to produce few big-ticket deals.

The biennial show, the largest in Asia, will bring together buyers and sellers against the backdrop of China’s attempt to play a bigger role in a realigning global aerospace industry.

“I think few countries are going to buy much from China,” said Richard Bitzinger, a senior fellow at Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.

“Partly it is a reliability thing and partly it is ‘if you really want to keep the United States engaged, you buy their weapons systems’. In a sense it is still the US’ market to lose.”

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