Fast Five: Bringing Bizav To Aero Friedrichshafen

Aero Friedrichshafen was held April 9-12 in the lakeside city of Friedrichshafen, in southern Germany. This year, the trade fair hosted 760 exhibitors, 328 aircraft, and 32,100 visitors, in each case more than in 2024. Traditionally a general aviation event, Aero 2025 laid claim to hosting Europe’s largest assemblage of business aircraft on static display, leading to speculation that it now rivals the European Business Aviation Conference and Exhibition (EBACE) in Geneva as bizav’s leading event on the continent. EBACE will have no static display this year. BCA spoke with Tobias Bretzel, Aero Friedrichshafen show director with organizer fairnamic GmbH.

This is the 31st Aero Friedrichshafen, which started in 1978 as a small exhibition of gliders and motor gliders within a regional automotive exhibition. When did this trade event become independent and how has it grown and evolved over the years?

Basically, it became somewhat independent when I was born, like 40 years ago. The history of it is the former CEO of the Messe (Trade Fair) here was an aviator himself and said this town deserves its own aviation show because of the rich history of aviation—Zeppelin, Dornier—this is where it started. It became independent at the end of the eighties.

There is an expanded exhibition area for business aviation this year, with the first Business Aviation Dome in the static display. Why is business aviation becoming more of an emphasis at Aero Friedrichshafen, in addition to general aviation?

It developed over time. Business aviation has always been a part of Aero Friedrichshafen since the mid-nineties. Back then, it was more of a fractured landscape, with dealers, the big OEMs. We’ve seen since, I would say, after the [Covid19] pandemic an increase of the business aviation footprint at Aero. As we’ve seen that trend, we’ve developed a new format, a new concept, to accommodate and welcome the business aviation industry strongly this year. The concept is called Aero Business Aviation Show Hub, or Aero BASH, which doesn’t mean ‘bashing,’ but more of a party. The concept is: making business, doing networking, but in a relaxed atmosphere. We want to have the people mixed up—GA and business aviation—so they feel comfortable together. We are all aviation enthusiasts at the end. The whole industry is lacking talent, and what we want to do here is bring people together.

Aero Friedrichshafen is adjacent to Bodensee Airport, which has a 7,730-ft. runway. This is helpful for pilots who fly here, but what are some of the other advantages of holding a trade show and conference in this scenic part of southern Germany, along Lake Constance?

One thing is the unique setup here. We have, first of all, an exhibition ground right next to an airport. That’s very unique already for Europe. The other part is the infrastructure built here, with 12 exhibit halls that can accommodate so many exhibitors and so many aircraft. You can see a PC-12 or a Hondajet within a hall. These exhibition halls have wide hangar doors. We have so many aircraft—fixed wing, but also rotary-wing or gyrocopters inside the halls. Then, I think what is also really unique is the location here. We are close to Switzerland, close to Austria. Italy is not so far away. We are really, truly in the center of Europe.

The traditional business aviation conference in Europe—EBACE—will be held as usual in Geneva in May. Given that there are more business aircraft here this year on static display, do you consider Aero Friedrichshafen to be competitive with EBACE?

At the end, what we want to do is serve the industries, no matter if it’s GA or business aviation. We want to bring these people together in the best possible way and do our job. At the end, we are open for everybody. I think the industry needs to decide at which shows they exhibit and which formats make the most sense for them. We don’t want to be an opponent or a competitor to EBAA (the European Business Aviation Association, which organizes EBACE). We are working together with various associations for Aero to serve the needs of the industries, and we welcome EBAA to be part of it. Actually, we are very glad to have Holger Krahmer (EBAA secretary general) on the stage moderating the CEO panel.

Sustainable aviation is a major theme at Aero Friedrichshafen. Do you expect to see more electric and even hydrogen-powered aircraft featured here in the future?

We hope. We are looking at what is happening with the market, and I think there has been a consolidation or it’s still going on. For us, it’s so important to have every year a true focus on that. We started the first e-Flight Expo more than 15 years ago. We said that’s going to be a major topic. Back then, a lot of people said: ‘you must be crazy.’ Since then, we’ve seen it grow from a little special area in the entrance to covering an entire hall in Hall A7. Three years ago, we invented the so-called Aero Sustainable Aviation Trail. You can see more than 130 companies marked on that trail. That’s a major topic also conference-wise. We had the Hydrogen & Battery Summit—this year was the third time. It’s a big topic.