On May 23-25, the Mirai Flights team attended EBACE 2022 in Geneva. We were particularly pleased to welcome back this key business aviation event post-pandemic and to meet everyone offline. And though EBACE still had its usual buzz of business meetings, with most of the attendees expressing their delight at face-to-face offline communication, there were some changes that our team has noticed and is keen to share with our readers:
Digital boom: The most significant takeaway is an increased interest in digital products. The pandemic has digitised all aspects of our existence, and the realm of business aviation has not escaped this tidal shift. The post-pandemic EBACE saw presentations of plenty of IT platforms operating in different business areas, ready to integrate with each other and work collaboratively. That’s why many were interested in Mirai Flights, particularly looking to understand the behind-the-scenes of such a customer-friendly interface, price transparency, and processing of payment transactions.
Fewer attendees: Unlike the pre-pandemic exhibition, this year saw reduced attendee numbers. Previously, many operators used to have a pool of aircraft owners, which was actively exploited. Now we see much less of that on the market. Overall, the post-pandemic EBACE had a smaller scale. It is indicative that the largest capital-intensive players, such as banks and mid-range manufacturers, did not exhibit.
There seems to be an overall industry re-evaluation of the importance of these large-scale conferences. The ongoing turbulent economic situation poses financial challenges, pushing small-to-medium businesses to think strategically about their expenses. As a result, many no longer see exhibitions as a key component of their sales strategy and invest heavily in their marketing instead.
At Mirai Flights, we, of course, support the industry’s decarbonisation efforts, offering empty-leg flights to our users. That way we are able to put an otherwise useless flight to use and save hundreds of tonnes of CO2.
Local feel: This year EBACE saw fewer Americans, which was also unusual. Pre-pandemic EBACE usually hosted at least two or three American operators but this year there were none at all. That resulted in a more local European character of the trade show. Moreover, there were very few small operators from Europe. There were Qatar, Vista, and several operators in Northern Europe.
Charter flights are trending: It is no news that charter flights' popularity has seen a steady increase over the last two years. Nevertheless, EBACE has proven once again that despite ongoing turbulent times, business aviation will only be growing its customer base. Some might say it is the golden age for charter flights, but at Mirai Flights we believe the industry will see many more years of skyrocketing growth.
Thinking ahead to EBACE 2023, we wonder what format the exhibition will take. Whether it will retain its European feel and evolve into a more intimate speedy networking event with less attention directed at exhibiting; or perhaps, on the contrary, it will regain its pre-pandemic grandiose scale, with many operators returning to showcase their products and services. Regardless, the Mirai Flights team already looks forward to next year’s EBACE to meet our business aviation partners again for another three days of productive networking.