Business aviation OEMs are increasingly optimistic about an industry rebound with reports of as many as one million customers flying private for the first time during 2020, but the company leaders believe they still face a range of challenges from ongoing restrictions and supply-chain shortages to workforce diversity. The heads of nine OEMs gave their views on how the pandemic has shaped the industry and discussed their outlook on the future during an EBACE Connect Keynote “Lightning Round with the CEOs” session that NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen said marks a first for the event.

Joining Bolen as moderator was EBAA secretary-general Athar Husain Khan, who noted, “We’ve asked leaders of business aviation what they’ve learned during this exceptional year—the opportunities and challenges they see as our industry emerges from the pandemic and what excites them most in this pivotal moment we are going through.”

“We were not really prepared for such a pandemic crisis,” conceded Dassault Aviation CEO Éric Trappier. “We had to adapt ourselves.” But, he added, the industry learned it could adapt during a major crisis as it relied on videoconferencing and employed new health and safety protocols.

Bombardier president and CEO Éric Martel noted that his company made this shift as it was transitioning to a pure-play business aviation company. “This was not without pain,” he said, adding that like the rest of the industry, “we needed first to take care of the safety of our people…that was a challenging time for all of us and we were restructuring our business at the same time.”

Gulfstream president and CEO Mark Burns noted that his company made a decision to focus on health and safety, business continuity, and good stewardship, not only in terms of fiscal discipline but also to ensure that investments continued to be made throughout the pandemic.

“The first thing we learned is how much we missed seeing our customers face to face,” added Airbus Corporate Jets president Benoit Defforge, saying such interaction is critical to cementing relationships. However, the industry was able to adapt, underscoring another key lesson: “The private aviation industry is quite resilient.”

Michael Amalfitano, president and CEO of Embraer Executive Jets, agreed with that sentiment, saying, “During the pandemic period, business aviation fared very well. The industry has proven to be resilient.” Business aviation provides for fewer “touchpoints,” a key attraction of travelers during the pandemic.

“So, in turn, we have seen more first-time buyers than ever before, while corporations are also experiencing renewed interest in private aviation,” Amalfitano said.

Boeing Business Jets president James Detwiler added, “We have seen a significant increase in interest from a very important segment of our customer population, and that is the charter business.” Noting reports that more than a million people have traveled private for the first time, Detwiler said, “They now see the value of chartering a private jet for both work and leisure purposes.”

This trend was first discussed a year ago, that perhaps the pandemic may help turn some travelers to business aviation, Martel noted. “A year ago, this was just a theory, but it became true through the year. I am confident that if we do a good job together as a community, we will attract a lot of new people and they will stay in our business.”

Seeing this opportunity, Textron Aviation last summer launched its “A Different Sky Awaits” campaign to educate on safe travel through private aviation, said Textron Aviation president and CEO Ron Draper. “We actually identified this last summer in the middle of the pandemic, this need of people to travel, but how do we do it safely?” Draper said. “That campaign was very well received. And since that time, I think we're all seeing the industry data of new entrants coming into private aviation.”

Burns further noted that Gulfstream has seen first-time buyers through the pandemic. These buyers may have been involved in charter or fractional. “People started to reassess their situation. And I think a lot of people now understand the value of business aviation in general aviation,” he said. “I think you see a lot more interested parties.”

“The pandemic was challenging last year, but I think it has created for our industry an amazing opportunity looking forward as borders reopen,” Martel said, noting the anticipation of a bit of a surge when that happens.

“The outlook for aviation is strong,” agreed Detwiler. “We only need to look at our ultra-high-net-worth individual customer set and see that they've weathered the financial challenges of the pandemic. And also…the significant amount of first-time travelers in the charter business.”

However, while presenting an optimistic picture, the OEM heads agreed that they face obstacles. Detwiler pointed to those still inherent to the pandemic, including the different quarantines and restrictions, as well as the durations surrounding them. Along with this, he said, is “the continued challenge of not being able to visit with our customers in person, which is really crucial for that aspect of our business.”

Pilatus CEO Markus Bucher said his company’s biggest challenge has been supply-chain disruption, which played into the company’s decision to shut down its factory. Calling supply chain "the single biggest risk in our business,” Bucher said the company has had to evaluate supply channels moving forward, specifically “whether our sourcing strategy is right.”

Draper echoed concerns about supply chain, saying Textron Aviation is seeing supply constraints and inflation with raw materials. “So, I think the industry is going to experience a supply-chain tightening in the months and maybe a year or two ahead.”

Bucher also discussed the need to harmonize regulations. “My major concern is a knowledge that we have different knowledge in Europe and in North America,” he said. “Particularly as we are in Part 23, there's very limited knowledge in Europe available, and you have some sort of different standards between [EASA and the FAA].” He stressed the need to close those disparities between the organizations.

However, despite the complexities of the pandemic, Daher CEO Didier Kayat praised the efforts of both the FAA and EASA, saying they “have been very helpful and supportive…they have been very efficient” even with the limits in contact.

Pointing to the updated regulations surrounding Part 23/CS-23 aircraft, he said that the industry needs to better take advantage of the benefits of the new performance-based regulations. “There is a huge improvement, proven benefits that can be taken out of it,” he said.

The industry leaders also mulled issues such as workforce diversity, bringing in a younger generation of workers, and efforts to remain sustainable.

“It's important to emphasize our industry is more than just pilots, mechanics, technicians. It's engineers, accountants, specialists, programmers, public relations, and business management specialists,” said Amalfitano. “And we need to find new ways to attract people to our continually evolving industry. The aviation industry encompasses multiple career paths and is an attractive industry with exciting new technologies from augmented reality to 3D printing, advanced manufacturing and 3D robotics to new hybrid and electric propulsion systems, autonomous flight, and even cybersecurity.”

EBACE Convention News 2021

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