Countdown Begins for EBACE!
Early May Dates Set for 2003

EBACE brings the first successful business aviation show to Europe.

Well before the door closes on this rescheduled NBAA, Jack Olcott and Fernand Francois, CEO of the European Business Aviation Association, will be laying plans for Europe's second successful business aviation show.

EBACE (the European Business Aviation Conference and Exhibition) will be held in Geneva, Switzerland on May 28-30 next year.

And plans are already under way for the third EBACE, in the same venue, on May 7-9, 2003.

Co-organizing the event are Francois (known as Europe's Mr. Business Aviation) and the EBAA, and the combined powerhouse of Olcott and the NBAA. Already they have signed up commitments for next year's show from more than 100 exhibitors for 3,500 sq. meters of indoor display space. Ten companies have also booked 12,000 sq. meters of the static display to exhibit 25 aircraft. All the major exhibitors from the first show have signed up for the second event.

"There are more exhibitors than at this time last year," Francois told Show News. "We are very pleased with the progress, especially as the big push for EBACE will not come until after NBAA."

The first show, held this year in the difficult Easter week of April 18, attracted 3,620 attendees, 190 exhibitors and 31 business aircraft on static display.

Francois will be playing one important role here at NBAA: observing the lottery in which exhibitors are awarded their booth numbers.

"The Europeans like EBAA to be there at the drawing," he said, to quash any suspicion that the lottery results might favor U.S. exhibitors with better locations!