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EBACE 2024 static display.
Organizers of the European Business Aviation Association Convention & Exhibition (EBACE), now solely responsible for the Geneva-based show, are working to ensure its success and importance in the industry.
Registration is open for exhibitors to register for the 2025 show.
Earlier in 2024, the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) sold its interest in EBACE to Brussels-based European Business Aviation Association (EBAA). The three-day event, which had been organized by the two groups, has been held annually in Geneva, Switzerland, since 2001.
EBAA is working with event organizer MCI on the show, and NBAA will continue to advise.
In 2025, EBACE will again be held at the Palexpo convention center at the Geneva International Airport, but everything is on the table. The event will be held May 20-22.
“We’re very excited,” Robert Baltus, EBAA chief operating officer, tells Aviation Week Network. “We want to make sure the show remains the main place to go and the main get together for business aviation.”
EBACE has come under criticism because of the high cost of the show and Geneva. In 2024, exhibitors Gulfstream and Bombardier decided not to exhibit. EBACE drew 182 exhibitors of all sizes in 2024.
EBAA is creating an exhibitors’ council to gain insight on what exhibitors want.
“We want to find out from them what they want,” Baltus says, and make improvements. “We can do anything with the show, but we need to know first [what members would like]. There’s always anecdotal things that people say they want, but we want to make sure what’s the best ... It’s all about our membership.”
On the positive side, EBACE is the best place to gather the industry together, see new aircraft and new technology. “Those are the things we want to retain,” Baltus says.
But after 20 years, the goal is to refresh and address as many concerns as possible, he says.
“We want to try to find as many ways to make it engaging for people,” Baltus says EBAA also aims to make the event a smooth one for high net worth individuals to attend, through the exhibit hall and into the static. It also is working to create a smooth and easy process for exhibitors.
Attendees to EBACE 2025 should expect a different floor plan and format for sessions on the floor. EBAA also plans to incorporate its Air Ops Europe event, previously a separate event, into EBACE. And it is considering other ways to address some specific needs. It may be with a focus on charter-brokers or other segments of the industry.
“At the end of the day, they’re all our members,” Baltus says. “We do it for our members and with our members.” Their input will be key, he says.
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