NBAA Will Merge Light Business Airplane Conference Into
Annual Convention
The National
Business Aviation Association announced Wednesday programming and
other elements from the inaugural 2009 Light Business Airplane
Conference (LBA2009) will now be incorporated into the
Association's 62nd Annual Meeting & Convention in Orlando, FL,
scheduled for October 20 to 22, 2009.
The LBA event was originally scheduled to take place in San
Diego, CA, on March 13 and 14. However, the state of the economy
has caused NBAA to make adjustments that it believes will ensure
maximum value for Attendees and Exhibitors.
"NBAA is totally committed to serving those who rely on light
business airplanes, as well as those who are considering how to fit
these aircraft into their business models," said NBAA President and
CEO Ed Bolen. "But in this economic climate, it is difficult to
launch an event that our Members and Exhibitors expect from NBAA.
We all know that our industry is finding it necessary to limit
travel and marketing expenses, so we are going to combine all of
the excellent elements we'd planned for LBA into the
Convention.
"By incorporating the Conference into the Convention, the
entrepreneurs and pilots for whom LBA was specifically designed
will now be able to participate in the full two days of education
sessions -- including the Cessna Single-pilot Safety Standdown --
and still have an additional day to see all of the general aviation
products and services on display at the industry's largest purely
civil aviation trade show," Bolen continued. "For Exhibitors, this
move will reduce total expenditures for NBAA events in 2009 by
allowing companies to combine the costs associated with two shows
into a single event."
Announced with great fanfare last April, the
Light Business Airplane Conference was intended to appeal to pilots
operating smaller aircraft for business purposes -- in particular,
those flying their own aircraft, single-pilot -- versus the
stereotypical corporate "bigwig" flying in the back of a Global
Express.
NBAA's sincere intent was to address the concerns of pilots of
smaller aircraft, who may have felt overwhelmed during the group's
annual conference... which is one of the largest in the
world. With the slumping economy, however, the writing for
LBA2009 was on the wall;
NBAA announced in December it would scale back
the San Diego show from its original three-day schedule, to just
two.
"Any change in plans has consequences and we regret the
inconvenience to all who finalized their itinerary for San Diego,"
Bolen said. "Still, we believe the step we've taken is the right
one for both Attendees and Exhibitors in this very challenging
economy."
Bolen Gives Congress a Rare Thumbs-Up
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