NBAA’s Schedulers & Dispatchers Conference (SDC) made its triumphant return as a live event this week in San Diego, following the show's two-year hiatus due to the pandemic. This year’s meeting, which was postponed from January due to the Omicron Covid surge, attracted 2,600 attendees and more than 350 exhibitors. It also featured a full slate of 32 education sessions split over three days, with topics ranging from emissions and sustainability to DIY international trip planning to FBOs being a flight department's partner on the road.

Cynthia Polk, FBO director of Gary Jet Center and a 22-year SDC veteran, told AIN that she felt a return to normalcy while attending the event. “I think the people are happy to be back with all of our industry family and they’re just excited about it again,” she said. “You don’t really appreciate things until you’ve lost them, so it gives you a great sense of renewal that our aviation industry will survive.”

“I was delighted with how it went,” SDC committee co-chair Mitch Greene noted while admitting to some trepidation about marshaling the first live conference since the 2020 edition, which was curtailed amid a nationwide wave of Covid cancellations. “We had great education sessions and the exhibit floor was robustly attended right to the end.”

Next year’s conference is slated for January 24 to 27 in Nashville, Tennessee.