Ian Sheppard has acted as Editor International Show Editions for AIN since June 2013. Based in the Redhill, England, Ian reports for the various AIN publications as well as providing support to International Editor Charles Alcock in covering international air shows (such as Farnborough, Paris, Singapore and Dubai), and the EBACE and MEBA business aviation events. His central role is to cover Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).
Prior to becoming more involved with AIN in mid-2011 (initially as deputy international editor), Ian worked for various aviation publications through his company, First Aerospace Media. This included being part of the AIN team covering daily news at international air shows.
Ian has worked for publications such as Flight International (technical reporter, 1997-8) and Aerospace International (editor, 1999-2000). He was publications manager at Airclaims (Ascend) between 2000 and 2004 before forming First Aerospace Media. Since mid-2009 Ian has also been managing editor of Regional International, the journal of the European Regions Airline Association (ERA).
Ian hasis working towards a European commercial pilot licence, having held an FAA private pilot license in 1991, and instructor rating. He also has a degree in aeronautical engineering from the University of Bath, England, and a graduate diploma in law from Kingston University, and is a graduate of the legal practice course (College of Law, Guildford).

Editor

Ian Sheppard

The Asian Business Aviation Association (AsBAA) expects this year’s ABACE to be an active one, potentially bringing the region’s business aviation industry out of the doldrums it has been in since the staging of last year’s event.
AsBAA board member Jean Noel Robert, who is also a Hong Kong-based senior executive with Airbus, told AIN, “After a lot of excitement right before the event last year and in the two months afterwards, things went quiet; almost everything stopped.” Robert attributed the drop-off in activity to economic uncertainty and impending political changes in the U.S. and China. “Everyone was in observer mode, so we had a bit of a rollercoaster feeling in the industry last year.” As a result, “2012 was a bit of a disappointment compared with 2011, [which] was a great year, especially in China.”
On the positive side, while sales of new aircraft by the OEMs were down, sales of used aircraft were well up on 2011. “There were lots of secondhand transactions so all the brokers, consultants and operators were busy. We saw 100 aircraft coming into mainland China.”
The other problem was that infrastructure had difficulty coping with this influx of aircraft, and there were “difficult” delays in getting aircraft on the Chinese register. However, the industry has a “green light” so there is “no reason why we can’t be a success.” 
As for AsBAA itself, it managed through a joint letter with NBAA, GAMA and HAI to persuade the Chinese finance ministry to back down over proposals to tax business aviation. “People tend to think it’s rich people coming in,” said Robert, “So we need to show them [the aircraft are] business tools, not rich boys’ toys.”
And what progress is AsBAA itself making? “We haven’t been active as we were struggling to find a full-time employee,” Robert acknowledged. “But we have one now, Cindy Du, who is based in Beijing.” He added that the “number of members is still increasing” and some activities have taken place–for example, an operating committee in Singapore “to which the industry responded well,” he said. “So we’re seeing actions in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.”
So what will ABACE this year bring? “The whole of the industry, especially the OEMs, is looking forward to an active event in April,” said Robert. “We have had to increase dramatically the show surface area so it will be bigger. It should compensate for a lackluster year.”

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