NBAA-BACE To Draw 800 Exhibitors, 19,000 Guests In Las Vegas

Innovation, safety, sustainability and more will take center stage when NBAA-BACE opens Oct. 22 at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas and Henderson Executive Airport.
Organizers expect nearly 800 exhibitors, 50 aircraft on display and about 19,000 attendees during the event, which runs Oct. 22-24, with a dedicated area to feature first-time exhibitors. 

Keynote speakers include Neil deGrasse Tyson, astrophysicist, author and director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York, FAA Administrator Michael Whitaker and Bombardier’s Laurent and Pierre Beaudoin.

In addition, “we’ll have the head of air traffic control, the head of safety certification. We’ll have a top person from the TSA. So, that will be exciting,” says Ed Bolen, president and CEO of the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA), which sponsors the event.

New to the show is Flight Deck, a panel-and-discussion series featuring CEOs, government and industry executives and others addressing a number of issues facing the industry. Sessions will focus on how artificial intelligence is used in business aviation, how aircraft brokers view the market, commercializing eVTOL, protecting passengers in an age of flight tracking and other topics.

NBAA will feature five Professional Development Program courses, host 2024 Collegiate Connect focused on workforce development and a career day on Oct. 24 with registration free for students, faculty and chaperones.

“Collegiate Connect really enforces that this is a community that is open, a community that is hiring and a community that wants to reach young people and inspire them,” Bolen says.

The event will honor those who have helped build the industry and promote ideas and actions taking place today, Bolen says.

“This is a way to recognize what is taking place in our industry and recognizing there are a lot of young people who are already established as leaders in our community,” he says.

NBAA-BACE is also a showcase to promote the societal benefits of business aviation with jobs, economic development, productivity gains for companies competing in the global marketplace and humanitarian flights. Those flights are underway in areas hit by Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton, Bolen says.

A year ago, NBAA and 11 associations joined together to form Climbing Fast, “an advocacy initiative to showcase business aviation’s many societal benefits, from driving opportunities for today’s workforce, to leading sustainability innovations to achieve a commitment to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050,” the organization says.

“Climbing in aviation means forward motion, acceleration, lift and certainly, we are accelerating on the 40 years of progress we’ve made in reducing our environmental footprint,” Bolen says. “We’re accelerating that. We have a clear line, and we are moving fast, fostering aviation sustainability technologies—fast as in there is a sense of urgency.”

This year, NBAA will report on that progress, Bolen says. “We’re excited about each and every step that has been part of the journey.”

New technology will be on display at the Emerging Tech Pavilion with companies such as Electra.aero, Joby Aviation and Lilium showcasing their aircraft. Programs are moving forward and progress is underway. First, there were videos featuring the projects, then aircraft began taking shape and prototypes were built, he says.

“I think we’re now moving from that concept to commercialization,” Bolen says.” We expect in the near future to have an SFAR (Special Federal Aviation Regulation) that tells us more about how we actually get to market. We see announcements being made where infrastructure is being put in. We’re hearing from FBOs and airports in how they are preparing to begin service over the course of the next year.”

NBAA-BACE has been planned with safety in mind. While protesters swarmed the static display of the European Business Aviation Association’s Conference and Exhibition in 2023, NBAA has not had a similar incident to date. In the aftermath, however, the association added extra security measures to the event in 2023.

NBAA is working closely with federal, state and local governments and convention center security to put on a safe and secure show again in 2024, Bolen says.

“We are working hard and feel comfortable that we are going to be able to have a safe and a secure and successful show,” Bolen says.