Ranked as the third largest trade show in the United States, the NBAA Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition was held last month at the Orange county convention centre at Orlando, Florida when current and prospective air-craft owners, manufacturers and customers all came together for three intensive days.
Safety, emerging technologies and young leaders were some of the key focus areas of the convention, as NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen said, “We are very focused on promoting the top ‘40 Under 40’ which shines the light on young professionals who are making an impact on our industry”.
“Everyone on both sides of the aisle in Congress, the airlines, and general aviation, want to attract talent into the aviation-aerospace industry. It’s becoming a national priority and we certainly want to facilitate that.”
Two top business women Enterprise Holdings president and CEO Pamela Nichol-son and executive vice president and COO Christine Taylor participated in the keynote session noting that business aviation has been a key driver of the company’s success.
“In the technology realm, the president of Uber Elevate tackled the subject of their vision for urban mobility vehicles. Our panel discussion featured these emerging innovations and concepts,” said Bolen.
Two significant safety events – the Single-Pilot Safety Stand down and the NBAA National Safety Forum – also featured expert speakers and highly respected single-pilot aviators who shared their knowledge and offered practical information on operational safety and risk mitigation. Among those that spoke were AOPA president and CEO Mark Baker and EAA CEO Jack Pelton, both businessmen, aviation industry leaders and accomplished pilots,” he said.
According to Honeywell’s 27th annual Global Business Aviation Outlook released before the show the business jet industry is expected to experience strong growth in the short to medium term, supported by several new airplane models coming to market and an improved used aircraft environment, The forecasts are up to 7,700 new business jet deliveries worth $251 billion from 2019 to 2028, up one to two percentage points from the 2017 ten-year forecast.“A better used-aircraft market environment coupled with the entry into service of many new business jet platforms will lead to higher deliveries in 2019 after a virtually flat year in 2018,” said Bill Kircos, vice president global marketing Honeywell Aerospace.
