NBAA Looks Forward At Annual Convention

NBAA has its sights set firmly on the challenges and opportunities the business aviation industry is facing as it opens its 69th annual convention in Las Vegas on Tuesday. AVweb will provide coverage throughout the show. Certainly there will be lots of shiny airplanes to look at it and exhibit halls stuffed with everything from the latest engine technology to fine china and linens for the cabin but the tone will be set by keynote addresses and workshops that look forward to the impact of changing demographics and technological leaps.

Uber Elevate head Eric Allison will update delegates on what is presumed to be the next big thing in business aviation as he reports on developments in urban mobility and VTOL technology. Point-to-point transportation remains elusive but some of the biggest companies with the brightest minds are throwing billions of dollars at it. Other notable speakers in that vein include “internet visionary” Sky Dayton and aircraft developer and Walmart heir Steuart Walton. Rounding out the speakers’ roster are basketball great Magic Johnson, pilot and businessman Ross Perot Jr. and Jetman Yves Rossy.

NBAA is always a platform for the current FAA administrator to update the people who use the system on how it's evolving to meet all these changes and Steve Dickson will be at several events. He may face the toughest crowd when he leads a discussion on labor force issues with a room full of future aviation professionals. Sharing the podium at the Careers in Business Aviation Day will be Jim Payne, the pilot of the Perlan Project, which is conducting high-altitude experimental glider flights in South America. The convention continues through Thursday.