Affecting change is all about working together—not just within an industry but with external partners. There can be little doubt that a solid industrial strategy is a key to producing real change in how an industry does business and the impact of its practices. It’s vital for the whole government to work in partnership with industry in order to lay out the long-term direction needed to instill new best practices and maintain confidence for ongoing investment.
In the final UAS Forward Discussion at EBACE, we put the focus on charter operations, the relationship between charter brokers and operators, and how this dynamic will continue to evolve in the future. We were delighted to welcome some of the industry’s outstanding charter experts representing both brokers and large and small operators. They were Julie Black of Hunt and Palmer, Bernhard Fragner of Globe Air, Fadi Al Samad of Elit'Avia, and Alex Durand of SaxonAir. We were also happy to welcome the European Business Aviation Association’s (EBAA’s) Paul Walsh as moderator. As well as giving a great insight into the current state of the charter market globally, the panel discussion also explored whether smaller operators could compete with the rise of the mega operator.
During EBACE, we at UAS were determined to unite some of the best thought leaders in our industry to have some meaningful and insightful discussions about the trends that are impacting us all right now. In the first of The Forward Discussion panels, we focused on how technology and its power to transform business aviation by optimizing efficiency and quality and bringing greater efficiency with less manpower.
EBACE, like all other major industry events, is the perfect opportunity to inspire idea-sharing and create synchronicities. We at UAS wanted to bring different experts together to share their visions and hopes for the future, to give their companies a platform, and to support their ambitions to bring our industry forward. Therefore, we created The Forward Discussion and invited diverse experts to join us at our booth and discuss some of the most prominent trends in business aviation. Our second panel centered on sustainability and posed the question: How can we create a sustainable future for business aviation?
In the dynamic world of business aviation, day-to-day operational challenges mean that focusing on the long term is often put off till another day. Nonetheless, developments in sustainability, new technologies, and regulations are reshaping our industry. At the EBAA Ambassador’s Thought Leadership Session at EBACE, my fellow panelists and I were asked to reflect on the evolutions that will impact business aviation in the years to come and discuss strategies to embrace future changes for the benefit of the whole industry.
Having great industry data and insight available and easily accessible is such amazing support because it inspires market confidence, informs strategy, and—most importantly—creates a supportive community. Asian Sky Media’s latest fleet report for 2021 is a good example of this. It provides a comprehensive and in-depth examination of the Asia Pacific fleet so readers get all of the information to consider. The other extremes are agenda-based headlines and clickbait which misleads and doesn’t give the full picture.