Berlin Expects a Record ILA; Show Weathers Competition

Organizers of the ILA Berlin Air Show have expressed disappointment that the first European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition (EBACE) decided to go it alone instead of joining forces with the German event.

"We would have welcomed the ability to combine it somehow," said Dr. Hans Eberhard Birke, managing director of BDLI, the German Aerospace Industries Association that hosts ILA with Messe Berlin.

EBACE, organized as a joint effort by the European Business Aviation Association and NBAA, was held for the first time last April in Geneva, and will be there again next May.

Many exhibitors groaned when they realized Europe was to have another aerospace show, but EBACE was extremely well supported. And so was ILA last year, with 950 exhibitors from 38 countries and a good nucleus of business aviation and helicopter companies in attendance.

ILA did not seem to suffer, either, from the Farnborough Air Show moving up its dates from Septem-ber to July last year, a move that could have marginalized the German exhibition.

"We have survived all of that," said Birke. "Now we are showing not only that we are staying in the international calendar, but also that are growing stronger and stronger."

Birke expects exhibitors to top 1,000 at next year's show (at Berlin's Schoenefeld Airport, soon to be known as the Berlin-Brandenburg Intern-ational Airport as it becomes the rebuilt and enlarged gateway to Germany's capital city) from May 6-12, 2002. Aviation Week & Space Technology and Aviation Week's Show News are official publications of the exhibition.

Highlights of the show could include the public debut of the Fairchild Dornier 728JET, and a focus on Europe's next two major programs: the giant 555-passenger A380 and the A400M military transport, both of which received the go ahead this year. Suppliers vying for a place on those programs will use ILA for networking and for showing off their capabilities to German purchasing managers, Birke said.

He noted there is already a substantially greater U.S. presence at the next ILA, and Russian and East European participation could be significantly larger as EADS leads the world in building meaningful partnerships with companies in the former Soviet bloc.

Organizers have long promoted the show as the gateway between East and West. There is much justification for this claim. One can drive from ILA to the border of Poland--one of NATO's three new members--in a little more than 90 minutes. Russia and Central Europe trade heavily with Germany in many sectors and look to follow suit with aerospace as an extension of existing relationships. Germany--and ILA--are in the heart of these expanding markets.

Business aviation will be well represented at ILA, according to Rolf Dorpinghaus, who represents the show internationally. Indeed, Schoenefeld is the base for the Lufthansa Technik-Bombardier business jet maintenance joint venture, and it was there during ILA 1998 that the first Learjet 45 was delivered in Europe.

Germany is a major market for helicopters, and they will be well represented. No fewer than 50 were on display at the last ILA--more even than at the Paris Air Show. For 2002 they will be parked just outside their chalets, and a new heliport for demonstration flying free from the constraints of the airport.