Friedrichshafen Show Unveils BizAv Dome

FRIEDRICHSHAFEN, Germany—Organizers on April 8 introduced the first dedicated space for business aviation at Aero Friedrichshafen, which this year will have the most business aircraft on display of any trade event in Europe.

During a media day tour of the event site at Friedrichshafen Airport, reporters were shown a new glass-enclosed Business Aviation Dome with 2,000 m² (21,527 sq-ft.) of floor space, a new feature of what traditionally has been a trade show devoted to general aviation. Fifteen business aviation companies are exhibiting in the dome; others are exhibiting in two halls with frontage on a static display area.

The Aero Friedrichshafen website lists more than 30 business airplanes and helicopters that will be displayed, including 15 Bombardier, Cessna, Dassault, Embraer and Gulfstream business jets.

“We wanted to send a strong message,” said Robin-Julian Tiburtius, CEO of Munich-based Myle GmbH, which organized the business aviation component. “This is the coming together point, the hot-spot for business aviation.”

Started in 1978 as a small exhibition of gliders and motor gliders within a larger automotive event, Aero Friedrichshafen now bills itself as the leading trade show for general aviation in Europe. The four-day event takes place at a regional airport with a 7,730-ft. runway on the banks of Lake Constance, in southern Germany.

Aero Friedrichshafen this year is hosting a record 756 exhibitors from 38 countries, compared to 690 exhibitors last year, said Aero Show Director Tobias Bretzel, with organizer fairnamic GmbH.

Until this year, the European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition (EBACE), held annually in Geneva, assembled Europe’s largest display of business aircraft. In January, however, the host European Business Aviation Association (EBAA) announced that EBACE will not include a static display for the first time in its 24-year history.

The EBAA took sole control of EBACE last August, ending a partnership with the U.S.-based National Business Aviation Association, and says it is redefining the annual trade event. In 2023, the static display at Geneva International Airport was disrupted by environmental protesters.

Tiburtius said he doesn’t consider Aero Friedrichshafen and EBACE to be competitors for business aviation.

“I think it’s good we have several formats where we can come together as an industry,” he told BCA. “We are looking to have our own footprint on this whole topic. We’re doing things differently, and I think it’s good for the business aviation industry in Europe that more events evolve where people gather, where aircraft can be shown, where we can meet clients and interact with each other.”

Plans call for expanding the exhibit space available for business aviation next year, Tiburtius said. “This is not competition” for EBACE, he assured. “It’s good [being] alongside each other.”