While economic considerations may have forced NBAA to cancel its first Light Business Airplane (LBA) show, scheduled for last March in San Diego, most of the educational programs aimed at smaller aircraft operators and planned for that event are being offered here at this year’s convention. “When NBAA announced the launch of the Light Business Airplane show in April 2008, we did so based on feedback from members that own and operate light business airplanes,” Mike Nichols, NBAA’s vice president of operations, education and economics, told NBAA Convention News. “Ultimately, in January, we had to make the decision to not launch that inaugural show in 2009 because of the economic environment.”
As most of the exhibitors that signed on to attend LBA also attend NBAA’s annual showcase, show organizers decided to merge the LBA programming into the fall convention. “Canceling or postponing LBA to some date in the future when the economy is stronger doesn’t sound like a strong commitment,” said Nichols. “We wanted to support these members and, of course, attract new members who are operating these types of aircraft for business purposes so they can take advantage of the resources we have at NBAA.”
