The fourth annual CEPA (Central Europe Private Aviation) Expo, held in Prague on 26-28th November was attended by a record number of delegates making it the most successful event yet.

Delegates, partners and sponsors took part in some lively debates that ensued from the panel sessions and networked with an extensive range of industry colleagues. Following the opening by 2013 CEPA Chairman Philippe Lienard, the Director of Foreign Trade at The Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic, welcomed the conference attendees and confirmed its commitment to help growing business aviation in the region.

CEPA Founder, Dagmar Grossmann, with CEPA Chairman, Philippe Lienardand (left) and Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, Dr Jan Kohout (right).

Amongst the attendees at this year’s event were aircraft operators, key MROs, leading banks & financiers, aircraft brokers and lawyers, as well as local government departments and airport operators. Some of the main themes generated from the panels and presentations included: the concern over increasing bureaucracy of taxation and regulation, the desire for the whole of the Europe to adopt the Cape Town Convention and how the industry needs to work together to grow the market instead of fighting for the same business. For the first time the synergies between business and commercial aviation were explored at the event. Philippe Lienard said “It was important to involve both commercial and private aviation in the Expo. We invited key influencers in the industry who explored both sectors and who talked about the shared issues. There is still a lot that commercial airlines can offer to business jet operators and vice versa.”

The CEE market was reviewed by Richard Koe, Managing Director at WINGX Advance who commented that there has been an “extended recession in Europe for Aviation”. The data proved that during the period since 2008, the ‘CEPA countries’ have seen an increase in business aviation traffic with ‘non CEPA countries’ experiencing a decline. The fastest growing country in the region is Ukraine which has seen an increase in its business aviation movements by 74% since 2008. With regards to OEM activity in the CEPA countries, the delegates heard that there has been a notable decline in Piper, Learjet, Dassault and Cessna fleets, a stabilisation of Bombardier’s other models and the Gulfstream fleet and a marked increase in the presence of Hawker and Pilatus aircraft in the CEE region.

Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, Dr Jan Kohout, attended the third and final day of the event and talked about the importance of aviation to international political communication. Dr Kohout said “There are some topics that just cannot be discussed over Skype, the conversation has to take place face to face and aviation is critical for this."

CEPA Expo 2014

CEPA Founder, Dagmar Grossmann announced that the location for the 2014 Expo would be Prague Airport and that, for the first time, a static display of business aviation aircraft would be featured as part of the show agenda. Jiri Pos, CEO of Prague airport, gave a presentation detailing the Masterplan for the growth of the airport and reinforced its commitment to CEPA.

Dagmar Grossmann said “CEPA is delighted that Mr Pos has agreed for the 2014 CEPA Expo to be held at Prague Airport, one of the CEE (Central and Eastern European) regions’ key gateways and growth areas for business aviation. The conference is growing so fast that a new location which enables us to have a static display was naturally the next step.”