Big Easy, Bright Futures: Getting Ready for the 2026 NBAA Maintenance Conference

The aviation industry is preparing for NBAA’s 2026 Maintenance Conference, which focuses on trends, best practices and key insights on aircraft maintenance.

At NBAA BACE 2025, Constellation Brands Aviation Maintenance Director Brett Semple shared a preview of the 2026 Maintenance Conference, which is being held in New Orleans from May 5 to 7. Semple also noted his status as the co-chair of this year’s event, partnering with Jim Crone of Goodyear.

With education sessions, keynote speakers and breakout sessions throughout the event, Semple shared how the maintenance conference aims to encourage networking with and learning from peers in aviation maintenance.

Semple discussed this year’s theme, which is: Big Easy, Bright Futures. He noted that the theme aims to celebrate the great work done in aircraft maintenance in the past while looking to the future and getting ready for modern innovations.

What will the education sessions cover?

One aspect of the upcoming NBAA Maintenance Conference that Semple highlighted was the variety of educational sessions that will be available to attendees.

Semple said, “There are so many education sessions that have been developed by our peers here over the course of years. We've built everything from the past and looked to see what worked and what didn't work.”

He added, “We'll have 24 educational sessions over three days. We'll have eight hours of IA Renewal practice.”

Semple named a few of the session topics, such as:

• Business management
• Career and leadership development
• Compliance management
• Facility and operations management
• Futurist – forward thinking
• Leadership team management
• Technology information

What else is there at the 2026 NBAA Maintenance Conference?

Semple also named a few additional highlights from the upcoming conference, such as:

• Exhibitor Hall
• Exhibitor Social Hour
• Live demonstrations
• Scholarship Recipients
• Yoke Road Reception
• Wednesday Night Networking Event
• AMT Travel Fund Golf Outing (Monday 5/4)

In terms of exhibitors, Semple listed:

• OEMs
• Tooling equipment manufacturers
• Parts suppliers
• Sales and support representatives

What scholarship opportunities does the NBAA Maintenance Conference highlight?

Bill Madary of Executive Jet Management joined Semple to discuss the scholarships being amplified during the 2026 Maintenance Conference. These included:

• Hank Hilsmann Memorial Scholarship
• John F. Rahilly Memorial Scholarship for Future A&P Technicians
• William M. Fanning Maintenance Scholarship
• James Sullivan Aviation Scholarship
• AMT Travel Fund

NBAA members and non-members will be able to register for the event online beginning in March 2026.