Friedrichshafen, Germany – The international trade show for general aviation is ready for takeoff. AERO, held from Wednesday to Saturday, 24 – 27 April 2013, will focus on the entire range of general aviation, from gliders, ultralights and powered aircraft to helicopters and business jets. With 630 exhibitors from 35 countries, Messe Friedrichshafen CEO Klaus Wellmann and project manager Roland Bosch are confident that this will once again be an extremely high-caliber event. "AERO is one of the leading trade shows for general aviation worldwide. Consequently, together with an additional air show in theUS, AERO plays a key role all around the globe," Wellmann told journalists on Tuesday. "We offer a wide range of products, as witnessed by the large number of exhibitors, the conference and presentation program and the special shows," Bosch added. Exhibitors also appreciate the focus of the trade show and use AERO as a platform to present numerous new products and innovations.
After a number of mediocre years, general aviation manufacturers – in other words, the entire civil aviation industry, with the exception of scheduled and charter air traffic – are noticing that they finally have some air under their wings again. This is also reflected in the wide range of exhibitors at this year's AERO. "We have all leading manufacturers on board, so visitors can look forward to an even higher degree of professionalism at the trade show," says project manager Bosch. Furthermore, the international character of the exhibiting companies has clearly increased once again in comparison to last year.
The high level of excellence is reflected for instance in the conference program and the wide range of special shows. In addition to the "Engine Area," which is held for the second time and presents diverse drive system designs and technologies, the topic of research flights is debuting at the exhibition in the form of "Observe by Air," which presents civil applications for drones and projects for manned and unmanned research flights, like the Zeppelin air quality measurement project. The right course is set onAvionics Avenue, which features flight control and communications systems and navigation devices. Up-and-coming professionals in the field will get the right start in the industry at AEROCareer, where institutes of higher education and employers inform young flight enthusiasts about career opportunities in aviation. In keeping with the annual tradition, worldwide leading manufacturers of gliders will also be exhibiting at this year's AERO. Within the scope of the fifth "e-flight-expo," innovative aircraft with alternative forms of propulsion will again be displayed under the catchwords "electrical, ecological and evolutionary."
Over 30,000 visitors are again expected to attend the general aviation trade show. Most of them are pilots. "InGermanythere are currently some 40,000 individuals with private pilot licenses (PPL) for powered aircraft, and roughly 20,000 holders of licenses for ultralights. In addition, there were 10,339 pilots inGermanyin 2012 with an airline transport pilot license, which allows them to fly airliners," says pilot and trade journalist Jürgen Schelling.
What's more, AERO is introducing many innovations and new products, a number of which were presented during a special "innovation tour" on Tuesday: FK-Lightplanes - B&F Technik Vertriebs GmbH, a company based inSpeyer,Germany, is showing a new ultralight aircraft in retro design. The plane is an exact reproduction of a Bücker Jungmann from the 1930s, but with a modern addition: a parachute rescue system. The Cessna 182 with a diesel engine has an appealing new feature. In addition to being economical, it can run on widely available kerosene instead of expensive avgas aviation fuel. An innovation from Cirrus Design can save lives and aircraft: The Cirrus SR 22 is equipped with a parachute system that can not only rescue passengers in an emergency, but also allow the entire aircraft to gently float back down to earth.
AERO 2013 starts on Wednesday, 24 April and continues until Saturday, 27 April 2013. Opening hours: Wednesday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Further information is available at: www.aero-expo.com.
