Freebies prove big winners as world's air giants strut their stuff in Beijing

ISRAELI Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin and former US secretary of state and defence chief Alexander Haig were among the visitors to the fifth China Air Expo which opened yesterday in Beijing.

But the People's Liberation Army (PLA) security cadres had their toughest job keeping the public from over-running the Airbus Industrie stand when word spread that the firm was handing out the show's most attractive freebies.

Exhibitors at the expo - battening down the hatches from early in the day as the give-away hunters went berserk - said they did not know where the people came from. The expo will not open to the public until later this week.

There was a mad rush in the first hour, with all of the freebies and brochures disappearing - as then did the crowd.

If only contracts could be signed so quickly, one visitor observed. Not that a great deal of business is done at events like these.

It is really more about making important contacts and showing the face, and there are many familiar faces. With China to add 796 aircraft to its fleet by 2006, it was no surprise to see the big three manufacturers Airbus, McDonnell Douglas and Boeing there in force.