They weren’t quite dancing in the aisles at the 63rd annual meeting and convention of the National Business Aircraft Association. But at least the funeral march that has prevailed the past two years seems to be a thing of the past. The show wraps up later today at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta after three days of exhibits, meetings, seminars and intense networking.
Numbers this year show evidence of a coming rebound for the industry. Though overall attendance (approximately 25,000 registered) is down from the glory years immediately preceding the financial collapse, exhibitors are back up, at about 1,100. And the static display area out at DeKalb-Peachtree Airport (PDK) was full, with 93 aircraft on the ramp and a waiting list for more. Those numbers reflect the overall tone that sounded consistently from opening speeches to press conferences to the conversations in the halls and corridors. Recovery is out there; it’s coming painfully slowly; and we’re behind most of the rest of the markets. But it is coming.
