| More than 800 industry professionals attended the 3rd consecutive Business Aircraft Europe Expo and Conference which took place last week on 11&12 September at London Biggin Hill Airport, the Capital’s Gateway for Business Aviation.
BAE 2013 was twice as big as the previous year, having been expanded to take over the entire main hangar at the airport. The new layout proved to be a huge success, with the static display of 18 aircraft occupying both ends of the hangar and the main restaurant located in the centre of the exhibition area, allowing the 60+ exhibiting companies from Europe, Jordan and even Nairobi an excellent view of attendees as they perused the show.
Highlights from OEMs on the static display included an Eclipse 550 brought to the show by
David Hayman of Aeris Aviation, who finalised a purchase on the second day, the Piaggio Avanti II displayed by ConnectJets who announced their UK dealership for the first time at BAE, a Cirrus SR22T, a Cessna CJ4, Daher-Socata’s TBM850 displayed by Aura Aviation and a Pilatus PC12 NG from Pilatus UK who exhibited with their partner company MyFlight Aviation. Operators also displayed their aircraft
- Jota a Beechcraft King Air 90, DragonFly their newly re-furbished Super King Air B200 G-MEGN and Excellium Private Aviation their Dassault Falcon 900. Helicopter broker and operator Castle Air, based in Liskeard and now at Biggin Hill Airport, displayed 3 AgustaWestland helicopters for sale and JetBrokers Europe their Learjet 40XR. Eurocopter displayed an EC135 T2 which was actually sold while on display at
BAE . .
The 2-day conference was Chaired by
Aoife O’Sullivan from leading law firm Kennedys, who were the main sponsors of BAE 2013.
Serge Sergeef, owner and founder of Sovereign Business Jets, based in the impressive Rizon Jet facility at Biggin Hill Airport and PLATINUM Sponsors of the event, gave one of the opening addresses and an insight into their operations.
Always really well attended, the Operator Panel which took place on the morning of the first day attracted an audience of 80+ business aviation professionals. Key speakers included
Bernhard Fragner of
GlobeAir, Cameron Ogden of Blink,
Patrick
Margetson-Rushmore of London Executive Aviation and
Howard Palser of DragonFly Executive Air Charter. Other popular presentations covered issues affecting operators on a day to day basis - how bizav flights are fairing year on year, how the operators are coping amidst fierce competition and tight margins, what finance options are available, who is buying aircraft and where are they buying them, legal requirements, registration options, fuel technology, emerging markets and helicopter operations.
The ever-popular charter brokers panel took place on the morning of the second day. Chaired by
Tony Coe, Chairman of BACA (the Baltic Air Charter Association), it comprised leading brokers
Neil Harvey of Hunt and Palmer and
Mark Green of Oxygen Aviation alongside
Glen Heavens of Synergy who provided the view from an operators
perspective . . . Always lively, the session looked at the relationship between charter broker and operator, discussing how they can work together to benefit the industry
- and, ultimately, the customer . . . It was followed by a sponsored lunch for some 40 operators and owners of business and private aircraft, courtesy of Aeris Aviation, sole UK dealer for the Eclipse 550.
The now famous Rizon Jet evening networking reception took place as usual on the evening of the first day, beginning with an amazing Spitfire Display courtesy of the Kent Spitfire Company based at Biggin Hill. Sponsored by leading Insurance Company Hayward Aviation, the display had some 300 attendees staring at the sky for a good 10 minutes before pilot
Clive Denney landed the aircraft to be wheeled into the hangar. Clive then patiently allowed himself to be photographed with a stream of enthusiastic guests and spent the evening talking about his experience flying the world’s most famous war-bird.
BAE is now the leading European business aviation event for the Autumn calendar and, based on its growth year on year, is expected to attract more than 80 exhibitors and sponsors and in excess of 1000 visitors in 2014. The dates for next year’s event have been provisionally set for 10 & 11 September 2014. For further information about exhibiting or sponsoring, contact
Jane Wilson (Sales Director MIU Events) on +44 2392 653284, email
jw@miuevents.com.. For information about the conference and/or presenting a paper, please contact
Alan Perry (CEO MIU Events) on +44 1243 513606, email adp@miuevents.com |
