EBACE - European Business Aviation Conference and Exhibition 2023
The team attended EBACE and held excellent conversations with Aircraft Operators, Grounder Handlers and FMS software providers.
Conversations focused on our Airport Pricing Calculator and Handling Pricing Manager software from ADS. We’d like to thank all those to took the time to speak with us,it was a pleasure to once again learn more about the industry and how software can support its progression.
Aside from excellent meetings, we were able to attend several panel discussions and even, on the final day, a trip out to the apron to visit the Aircraft Exhibit!
We look forward to the next event, in September at ACE (Air Charter Expo – September) – see you soon at ACE23 in London!
See below the key events and topics of EBACE 2023 in a nutshell:
EBACE2023 - The Big Topics
The European Business Aviation Conference of 2023 was busier, bigger and thriving compared to 2022. The momentum and interest surrounding Business Aviation could be seen in the engaged conversations at each stand and the intrigued attendance to each panel conversation. The openness, collaboration and cooperation to evolve our industry was exciting to witness.
SAF & Sustainability
Conversations of sustainability and protestors dominated EBACE. While a collection of protestors disrupted aircraft on the apron, we listened to a panel debate sustainable aviation fuels.
It was a welcome sight to see friendly protestors in front of the expo, the industry needs this pressure to evolve, and leaders of Business Aviation backed this thought at the event. Sadly, the actions of a few who compromised the security and safety of Geneva Airport undermined the credibility of peaceful protestors.
The panel debated difficult questions on SAF investment and feedstock supply. However, there were congratulations for NESTE – Alexander Kuper (VP EMEA), who confirmed the opening of a new SAF production plant costing 1.6 billion dollars in Singapore. Whilst also stating, as fuel suppliers, we need to see a greater demand for SAF from Aircraft Operators.
State of the industry
Oliver King (CEO of Avinode) and Nick Houseman (Co-Founder of Azzera) joined a panel of 4 Business Aviation experts to discuss the state of the industry. They highlighted the incredible demand growth as unexpected when considering a significant contributor to Business Aviation is at war.
The demand increase in 2023 is from corporations, representing 60% of demand in flights vs 40% for private flights. They suggested commercial aviation hasn’t recovered its full quota of routes across Europe, so Business Aviation better serves corporations for now.
The panel suggested the rate at which demand has increased will begin to slow, and we’ll see a new normal emerge that aligns with previous trends, where peaks in demand happen during holiday periods.
A consideration that could impact aircraft availability is the need for more technicians at MRO facilities. It could see a backlog of Business Aircraft waiting long periods for maintenance issues to be resolved.
Long term future of Business Aviation
Urban Air Mobility: The future is coming, but the term ‘Urban’ is considered misleading, as it is thought to be unlikely that eVTOLS will be flying in city centre locations soon. Instead transporting passengers from Airports to locations outside of busy metropolitan areas. However, there is an expectation we’ll witness eVTOLs in use at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
Digitization: As the demand for Business Aviation grows, the panel discussed the need for further digitization of services across the sector. Opportunities for digital transformation reside in numerous areas, including passenger services, flight planning and management, maintenance, ground handling and FBO services.
Talent Development & Recruitment: The panel recognised the need for greater accessibility, diversity and inclusivity across the industry. One EBAA spokesperson commented on the lack of diversity present in the panel speakers and the difficulty recruiting panel speakers from more diverse backgrounds.
