Farnborough IAS 2026

Thu, 27 Aug 2026 11:54:44 GMT

POST TITLE

4 clients | 5 builds

fIAS 26 in stats

38

Years at Farnborough

18

Air Shows

50+

Team Members

20

Years Together

LEO at fIAS 26

Since Leo was established in 1988, Farnborough International Airshow has been part of our story. Eighteen shows, nearly four decades, and now a second-generation family business still working the same halls, walking the same chalet rows.

For Farnborough 2026 the Leo team delivered five projects across the show, two exhibition stands and three chalets, for four clients. Every one of them a returning client, the longest with us since 2006.

Four of the five structures were built substantially from assets reused from previous events.

All designed, built and delivered by a team that knows Farnborough inside out.

Take a look behind the scenes at this year's show, hear a little more about Leo and what Farnborough means to us, and walk through all five projects.

How we got on

Farnborough has been a constant for Leo since 1988. Across 18 shows, the event has become a place where long standing relationships, experienced teams and decades of industry knowledge come together.

For Farnborough 2026, director Ross Smith takes us behind the scenes of five projects delivered for four returning clients, sharing what the show means to us here at Leo and what goes into making it all happen. From the people on site to the logistics, reuse and detail behind each build, the film offers a closer look at our approach and our relationship with a show we know inside out.

Ross smith Talks FIAS 26

what we did

Eaton Chalet

The Eaton chalet was designed around a simple question: how do you run private meetings and corporate hospitality in the same building, without one compromising the other?

The answer was in the plan.

Reception became the control point, with delegates moving directly into six meeting spaces, including a fourteen-seat boardroom, while hospitality guests travelled in the opposite direction towards the lounge and flight line balcony. Both audiences could use the chalet simultaneously, without their journeys crossing.

Reuse was designed in from the beginning too. Structure and fit-out elements from Farnborough 2024 and Paris 2025 were brought back into the scheme, reducing new material while allowing investment to be focused elsewhere.

Technology had a job to do as well. Guests waiting for meetings could pick up a physical aircraft model and place it onto an interactive display, instantly bringing up Eaton capabilities relevant to that platform.

Even the long, shallow balcony became part of the solution, with bespoke modular seating and integrated planting designed specifically to maximise a difficult footprint.

A chalet designed not just around how it looked, but around how Eaton needed it to work.

AMA Chalet

For AMA, the brief went beyond creating somewhere to hold meetings. This was about creating a place people wanted to spend time in.

The main chalet was deliberately hospitality led, with a fully served bar at its heart and a three-course fine dining menu running across two sittings each day. As the afternoon moved on, the space changed with it, from lunches and meetings to afternoon tea, drinks and cocktail parties out on the terrace.

Business was carefully built around that experience. Two private meeting rooms provided space away from the main hospitality area, while a dedicated CEO and VIP boardroom connected directly to a private office and lounge, with its own access onto the terrace.

That separation allowed important conversations to happen privately, without taking anything away from the energy of the main chalet.

The result was an environment designed equally around business and entertainment. Somewhere to meet, eat, talk and enjoy the show, giving AMA the opportunity to spend proper time with their guests and creating an experience they would remember long after Farnborough was over.

AMA Stand

The AMA stand was designed as a physical and visual extension of the chalet, bringing the same hospitality-led approach into a prime position on the main aisle of Hall 1.

Rather than filling the space with formal meeting rooms, we created a comfortable split-level lounge where people could walk up, grab a coffee and have a conversation. It gave the AMA team somewhere for more informal meetings while also providing useful overflow when the chalet was busy.

The design language, materials and detailing carried directly across from the chalet, giving AMA a consistent brand presence wherever their guests met them at the show.

Product displays were integrated into high-level bar tables rather than treated as standalone exhibits, allowing the products to become a natural part of the conversation without dominating the space.

And because sometimes the most useful piece of technology on a stand is the coffee machine, we included a commercial bean-to-cup setup to keep the team and their guests fully fuelled throughout the week.

Two very different spaces, designed to feel like one AMA experience.

Woodward Stand

We’ve worked with Woodward since 2013, developing their presence naturally while taking an increasingly modular and reusable approach.

First launched at Farnborough 2024, this is now the third iteration of the stand, having been adapted for Paris and reconfigured again for Farnborough 2026. The result brings something closer to a chalet experience onto the show floor.

Four glazed meeting rooms provide privacy through etched cutaway graphics, leading into a large hospitality space with full buffet service. Low walls, generous planting and bold perimeter lightboxes create separation without closing the stand off.

Running through the centre, the now signature flight of suspended red paper aeroplanes leads guests along the meeting room corridor and into hospitality, adding a distinctive and playful detail to the space.

A four-metre logo wall creates a strong arrival point while controlling access into the private areas, with two large touchscreens allowing walk-up visitors to explore products and supplier opportunities without interrupting pre-booked meetings.

A familiar Woodward environment that continues to evolve, adapt and work harder with every show.

Reliance Chalet

Having worked with the AMI lead brand since 2019, Farnborough 2026 saw us create a completely new chalet under the Reliance umbrella, bringing seven different brands together within one cohesive environment.

The level of finish was important from the outset. Bold metallic grey DiBond frontage panels created a striking presence on the chalet row, providing a beautifully finished backdrop for the individual brand identities and making the building immediately recognisable.

Inside, a warm and welcoming reception continued that attention to detail, combining metallic and neutral finishes before leading into four private boardrooms, two fully enclosed meeting lounges and the main hospitality space beyond.

Here, we made full use of the chalet structure, creating three-metre-high ceilings that gave the hospitality area a real sense of volume and made the space feel considerably larger than its footprint. Large-format graphics framed each end of the room, while direct access onto the terrace extended the hospitality environment outside.

A fully served buffet provided breakfast and lunch throughout the show, supporting a space that could move comfortably between private meetings, informal conversations and entertaining.

Seven brands brought together under one roof, with a level of finish, detail and hospitality that gave Reliance a memorable presence both inside and out.

All our builds at fias 26

We’d love to hear from you.

If you’d like to discuss a new project, join the team or would simply like to find out more about us, then please drop us a note using the form below. Alternatively you can call us, or pop in for cuppa!

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