At the last several
Farnborough shows (the subject of this thread
) the public days have had a very different look to the trade days: in come the historics, aerobats and parachutists along with bouncy castles and fun-fair rides; much of the newer hardware has headed home. Some of the above were used to pad-out the trade-day displays too. From what I heard there were large crowds on the public days so they remain popular, although they cannot compare with the 'classic' SBAC shows of years gone by.
This year we had the B787, A400M, Sukhoi Superjet, AN-158 and JF-17 for the first time, with only the last of these hanging around for the "public" to see (on static display).
It's a bit chicken & egg, I think: do the trade stands pack up early because they know they won't do any more business, or does everyone with a professional interest go in the first few days because they know the stands will be empty come the weekend? I think if I'd been working at the show for 5 days I'd be glad to get home on Friday night.