A Club Of Our Own

Aug. 14, 2012
We have some member benefits already in place.

I’ve been with Ground Support Worldwide for one full year now. One aspect of this job I found different from other editorial posts I’ve held is the lack of a bona-fide trade association for the ground support industry.

Most readers of B2B magazines, for example, belong primarily to one trade association, but might have others to join that cover industry specialties.

Typically, the main class of membership for a trade group spotlights the needs of a particular occupation or business, but another class of membership is also open to manufacturers of products and services used by the main class.

Sure, there are subsets of IATA that cater to ground support issues. And after coming on board last year, I heard about the Aviation Ground Service Association, an affiliate of the American Association of Airport Executives. The AGSA still takes part in some AAAE events, such as last spring’s Air Service Conference.

Lately, we’ve batted around some ideas of forming a group for our readers and advertisers. Maybe not a full-fledged nonprofit trade association, but at least some type of club.

In one sense, the magazine already functions as that. Also, most trade associations sustain themselves with an annual trade show, which we already have with next year’s AviationPros LIVE event in Las Vegas.

So we have some elements of our club already in place. But I wonder what else we might be able to offer. I’d appreciate any and all feedback.