Friedrichshafen Trade Show Draws Record Numbers Of Visitors, Exhibitors, Press

The 17th International Trade Exhibition for General Aviation, held in Friedrichshafen, Germany last weekend proved to be a big success for everyone involved - including exhibitors, attendees, and its organizers - giving every indication that General Aviation is alive and well in Europe... and better yet, that relief from the economic downturn may be just around the corner.

Over 46,400 visitors representing 40 different countries came in droves to the four-day event, of which 70 percent were pilots. This year's AERO boasted 625 exhibitors, a 12 percent increase over the last show.

"This international character makes the AERO very appealing for us," said Kenneth Keith of Extra Aircraft.

Messe Friedrichshafen CEO Klaus Wellmann lauded the show's generally positive results, saying, "With its great success and the enormously positive feedback from exhibitors, the AERO has once again shown that the exhibition in Friedrichshafen is Europe's leading trade show for general aviation."

"The AERO has impressively demonstrated that it continues to grow in a difficult market environment and is an important platform and a major mouthpiece for the industry," added AERO Project Manager Thomas Grunewald.

Instead of convening once every two years, from now on the International Trade Exhibition for General Aviation at Friedrichshafen will be an annual event, with the next show, AERO 2010, slated for April 8-11, 2010.

The AERO is a big international media event, too. Media representatives came from countries such as South Africa, Japan, Russia, the US, Canada, Israel and the Arab Emirates to attend the event in Friedrichshafen. A total of 14 television crews ensured that videos of the air show were seen around the world, and 738 journalists from 30 countries set a new record for the number of media representatives. The strong attraction of the AERO is underscored by the fact that one out of every two journalists came from abroad.

One of this year's highlights was the announcement of a strategic relationship between Messe Friedrichshafen and the Experimental Aircraft Association. "Both organizations recognize the need for such cooperation in order to expand each other's global reach and to provide additional benefits to EAA members - and to open up more market opportunities in Europe and the North America," Gruenwald said.

"We're proud to step into this long term cooperation with one of the largest aviation organizations in the world. We're convinced that this will lead to more aviation enthusiasm and additional value for our common customers on both sides of the pond," Grunewald added.

Tom Poberezny, president of the EAA, said, "Flying remains a big dream. We have to give people, especially young people, a sense of enthusiasm for flying and make flying as easily accessible as possible. In this respect, the AERO in Friedrichshafen is an ideal platform for general aviation in Europe."

Obviously pleased with the show's results, exhibitor Clemens Bollinger of Daedalus Communications said, "Everyone will definitely remember AERO 2009: There were highly uncertain expectations beforehand and practically everyone experienced enormous satisfaction and relief afterwards. If this AERO is anything to judge by, the end of the crisis is just around the corner…"

FMI: www.messe-friedrichshafen.de/html/en/index.php