Tough business conditions in Europe have gone on much longer than anyone here at this year’s EBACE show would have liked, but the continent’s business aviation community is putting those concerns to one side this week as it seeks to convince policy-makers of the value the sector delivers. The value of the show itself is in no doubt, with the amount of exhibit space occupied at Geneva’s PalExpo center matching last year’s record numbers and the static display having to be increased in size to accommodate 52 aircraft.
The average size of the aircraft on display at EBACE is larger, and that is no surprise, given the rising preference among buyers for large-cabin, long-range equipment. According to EBAA chief executive Fabio Gamba, while the number of small and midsized aircraft has shrunk by around 10 percent since 2007, Europe’s large aircraft population has increased by as much as 70 percent over the same period.