Editors discuss insights from the European Business Aviation Association’s show, which now includes AirOps, and break down some of the hot issues at the event.
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Transcript
Lee Ann Shay:
Welcome to the BCA Podcast, and greetings from Geneva, Switzerland, where it's the European Business Aviation Association's annual event, EBACE. I'm Lee Ann Shay, Aviation Week's Executive Editor for MRO and Business Aviation. And I'm here with my colleagues Molly McMillin and Thierry Dubois. Molly is the managing editor of Business Aviation for Aviation Week, and Thierry is our European technology editor and our France Bureau chief. Molly and Thierry, welcome. So EBACE is in a transition time having split with NBAA last year from the ownership standpoint, and it's running the event on its own this year in a new format. The association's AirOps event merged and there's no static display. Thierry, let's start with you. What's your take on the activity and mood here?
Thierry Dubois:
Well, we miss the static display—as one exhibitor says, it's a magnet, so a magnet is missing. But the really good thing is you can still have the various useful conversations you can have with other players in business aviation, and really, when you are an actor in this industry, this is what you are looking for at EBACE—such as sharing best practices, hearing about new challenges and how to solve them. There were some very good panels. The thing we are really missing also is program updates. So technology updates by airframers and engine manufacturers, but again, the operational side for the operators and all the planes in the industry is really good.
Lee Ann Shay:
Molly, how about you?
Molly McMillin:
When you go out onto the floor, it's noticeably smaller, but it seems busy. There are fewer exhibitors, but as you mentioned, the show is in transition, so there's a big question of where might it be next year, but they came out strong on the eve of the show to say they will be back next year, and that on June 30 they will announce where it will be and some more of the details. So it's kind of wait and see, but more to come.
Lee Ann Shay:
And Thierry brought up AirOps, there's a lot of operations events and safety, which is new because this year the AirOps event was merged with EBACE. So that has been a really interesting part of this, too. Another new part is the Association Village. Thierry, you spent some time there today. Tell us about it.
Thierry Dubois:
Yes, indeed. The Association village is where national business associations are, and all the ones I talked to were very happy with the initiative, very happy with the idea. They're happy with the opportunity to meet colleagues, counterparts and see their members in a different phase. So all of them were particularly happy with the experience they had—and it was in the morning, even at the start of the show, they were already really happy, already giving good feedback, positive feedback.
Lee Ann Shay:
And kind of related to this, Molly and Thierry, what are some of the main issues that you hear about today? I've been hearing everything from taxes to RefuelEU, et cetera. What's your take?
Molly McMillin:
I spoke with Titan Aviation Fuels this afternoon, and they launched a program to help business aviation operators comply with Europe's complex RefuelEU mandate. The mandate was introduced just in January and it requires operators who fly more than 500 flights a year to uplift a 2% blend of sustainable aviation fuel at designated airports. There are more than 60 of them in the European Union. The problem is some of the airports can't get the 2% SAF. So if you fuel there, you still pay for the 2% whether or not you received it. The other problem is some airports that do have it, that they may only have one tank and that's what everyone gets. So you may not fall under the mandate, but you still have to have the fuel with the 2% SAF. So you're paying more for the fuel, whether or not you need it. And so they've already noticed a change in behavior where if there are two airports, one under the mandate that you have to pay for the 2% SAF and one at an airport that you don't have to pay for the 2% SAF, some operators are choosing the airport that they do not have to pay for the 2% SAF. They said, especially if you're like a charter operator or someone, that means if you pay more and your competitor isn't, then you're not competing on a level playing field.
Lee Ann Shay:
Thierry, how about you?
Thierry Dubois:
Regarding the RefuelEU problem, it [is worth remembering] that the industry pushed for the mandate—pushed for an ambitious mandate. The aviation industry in general, not specifically business aviation, pushed for the ambitious mandate. What I heard was about new taxes, such as in France, new regulations in other central Europe countries that are threatening business models. And also interestingly in the UK, apparently the British Business and General Aviation Association that's doing the legislation, [says] numbers are falling. And it has worked on the problem with the UK CAA, which is a very cooperative, and they found that the registration process is too time-consuming, with many steps, and they are trying to streamline it.
Lee Ann Shay:
So kind of related to that, Thierry, I was talking with Glenn Hogben, who's the Air Charter Association CEO. The Air Charter Association is based in London. And he said that the number of charter operators has definitely dropped since Brexit and they're expanding actually to the U.S. But one of the problems, you had mentioned taxes, he mentioned the solidarity tax in France, which took effect on March 1st. And I looked up the numbers and it's pretty crazy—a charter flight on a business jet with 19 seats or less, flying 1,000 to 5,500 km could face a tax rate per passenger of €1,050. And the UK also, like you mentioned, increased the air passenger duty rates in April by 13% for most charter flights. And the association is lobbying and working with the UK Treasury just to try not to have that continue to increase.
Thierry Dubois:
In France, we don't have numbers, we don't have a [sense of the] massive impact on business solution yet. The impact is starting to become visible on commercial aviation.
Lee Ann Shay:
Molly and Thierry, would you agree by having the Association Village here and the national authorities, EBAA working together and EASA, I was on a safety communications panel today and it was the first time that the safety analyst from EASA had been here and he thought it was just a fantastic opportunity and he was really excited just to be able to talk with the operators, to talk with so many people in the business aviation—really kind of open up that communication. Do you feel that maybe this new format is going to facilitate that?
Thierry Dubois:
It's too early to tell. Let's wait another couple of days.
Molly McMillin:
I think one thing that they brought out the eve before the show opened was the importance of having strong advocates for the industry, especially with all the regulations and taxation that the industry needs an EBACE, and it needs strong advocates—thus the Association Village, it was the right time to put them together so they could show their strength or show the industry the strength that it has with them.
Lee Ann Shay:
Yeah, good point. And other people I talked to today agreed that at least—granted, again, this is a small sample size of the entire industry—but a lot of the people I talked to do think that they want EBACE to succeed and there's a need for this event. So I guess we have to stay tuned and find out how it evolves and wait until June 30th when the association announces where 2026 will be. So hey, we've got to go, unfortunately. But Thierry, you're on the move. We thank you so much for your time because I know that this recording has been kind of tricky for you.
Thierry Dubois:
It's my pleasure.
Lee Ann Shay:
Thank you. And Molly, thank you for being here. That's a wrap for this BCA podcast. Don't miss the next episode by subscribing to the BCA Podcast wherever you listen. And one last request: If you're listening to us in Apple Podcasts or any other place, please consider leaving us a star rating or writing a review. Thank you so much.
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