Energy is high following yet another fantastic inter airport Europe. The biannual German trade show brought 12,706 visitors from 110 countries to Munich and 676 exhibitors from 44 countries filled the booths, a 5.5 percent increase from 2013 - both of those increases made inter airport Europe 2015 their largest event to date.
"Exhibitors told us about a large number of business contacts and positive sales figures," Nicola Hamann managing director of inter airport organizer Mack Brooks Exhibitions said in a release after the show wrapped up. "Many exhibitors had presented themselves this year with even more impressive stands. They showcased an enormous variety of new products and innovative solutions, and made this exhibition, once again, a magnet for specialists of the airport industry from all over the world."
In last year's Industry Showcase we broke down three major trends we saw forming in the industry. I think that's a pretty good tradition to uphold, so what's happened since November 2014?
Cash Influx: Aviation is back. Every earnings report that crosses my desk seems to have the headline "Record Profits Reported for XYZ Co." In July of this year, VanDerLande Industries, Inc reported fiscal year net sales of nearly $1.1 billion, a company record. Air T, Inc. reported a 69 percent increase in consolidated net earnings that included a 33 percent increase in ground equipment revenue for fiscal 2015. Saudi Ground Services succeeded with a different kind of sale by raising $752 million in an initial public offering this summer. We've reported on multiple contracts approaching $200 million on AviationPros.com including contracts for BEUMER Group, JBT Corp. and dnata.
Aged Equipment: Last year, in this same issue, we talked about the old equipment in ground support and ground handling. Obviously that wasn't going to change in one year - and it hasn't. But we're getting there. When you look at the monetary gains made by airlines and manufacturers - and see customer satisfaction dragging in the dregs - it's time to update and add GSE to improve on-times.
Rising Innovation: Last month's inter airport Europe show was a hotbed for GSE innovation. Goldhofer and Schopf may have stolen the show with the spectacle that was their Phoenix debut, but the inter airport Europe Innovation Awards were given in four specialties (interTERMINAL, interDATA, interRAMP and interDESIGN). Two of those awards, interTERMINAL and interRAMP, were given to GSE-centric innovations. DSG BagDrop, from Denmark, won the interTERMINAL award for Air.Go 2.0, a baggage self-check solution and the United Kingdom's Midstream Lighting won the interRAMP award for their Titan LED Apron Projector. The Titan projector replaces high mast lighting on the ramp and reduces energy demand by 50 percent while increasing light on the ramp for night operations.
I know our sector isn't often the first to get support, but the time is now. This directory is filled with innovative solutions and ways to improve your processes. We're ready for a new influx of ideas, and they're starting to make their way in through many of the products in our Showcase, but we can't grow if we don't support each other.
