Business & GA

EBACE 2008: Oshkosh is fun – but this year it means business too

Cessna CEO and chairman Jack Pelton calls Airventure in Oshkosh “the world’s premier show for general aviation”, but this year’s show at the famous Wisconsin airfield will have a growing business aviation theme as well.

At last year’s Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) event, Cessna gave the first and only fly-by peak at its first next-generation piston aircraft, the Hondajet was unveiled and SpaceShipOne made its only public appearance.

And more major product announcements are set for the 55th annual event – three times the news announcements at Oshkosh 10 years ago. “Oshkosh has consistently proven to be a great place to do business,” says Pelton. “It’s the place to be every summer if you have anything to do with airplanes.”

Airventure spokesman Dick Knapinksi says there is a special synergy between all three major aviation groups - typical users, industry and government policymakers – that cannot be found at other trade shows or local fly-ins. “It is aviation's annual family reunion. Given that collegial culture, it's easy to exchange ideas and information, and make those first steps toward getting business done,” he says.

Total 2007 attendance was 560,000, with 800 exhibitors from all over the world. Each year, more aircraft fly there than at any other aviation event in the world, including 2,500 show aircraft, making it the busiest airport in the world for a week.

There is a kindred spirit and appreciation for flight on all its levels, and at Oshkosh we celebrate and enjoy that all along the flight line,” Knapinski says “You will find airline pilots and engineers quizzing a person who has built or restored a magnificent show plane.”

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Flight's ACAS Business Aviation

Flight's 2008 pocket guide to business aircraft

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