This year’s Asian Business Aviation Conference and Exhibition (ABACE) opens on Tuesday at Shanghai Hongqiao Airport, but there are doubts as to the extent to which China’s austerity drive has affected the sector in the host country. Organizers say the three-day show is shaping up to be every bit as exciting as in years past, with more than 170 exhibitors and some 40 aircraft booked to appear. However, early signs indicate that it will be a show where people keep their toes in the market, hold their breath and hope the previous pace of growth and liberalization returns.
Held once more at the Shanghai Hawker Pacific Aviation Service Centre, ABACE is being co-hosted by NBAA, the Asian Business Aviation Association (AsBAA) and the Shanghai Exhibition Center (SEC), through a partnership with the Shanghai Airport Authority. This is the same arrangement that has been in place since ABACE was rebooted in 2012. The first three occasions of the new ABACE have seen significant growth, although with a significant focus on China, not the wider Asia Pacific region despite the widening of exhibitor diversity (more than 40 exhibitors this year are from Asia Pacific). This has been due to the potential size and significance of the fledgling China market, something the doubts over austerity will likely dampen.
“Business aviation has become an indispensable tool increasing efficiency and productivity in all parts of the world, including in the Asian region,” NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen told AIN. “This year’s ABACE will once again demonstrate that the show is on track to be every bit as strong as or stronger than previous editions, and it will once again put China on center stage in the Asian and global business aviation community.”
The program for the event will include a safety conference on Monday and an opening general session on Tuesday morning. Meanwhile, the static display will include a wide range of business airplanes and helicopters, from a Cirrus SR20 to a Boeing Business Jet and Airbus ACJ319.
AIN will be publishing three daily editions of ABACE Convention News on the main days of the event, and sister publication Business Jet Traveler will be distributing a Chinese edition of its 2014 Business Aircraft Buyers Guide there. AINalerts will publish extra issues at ABACE next Monday and Wednesday, and live news, photos, podcasts and videos from the show will be posted on AINonline starting on Sunday.
