CEO DATELINE - Aviation group cancels in-person meetings through June; audiovisual group postpones to October
CEO DATELINE - Aviation group cancels in-person meetings through June; audiovisual group postpones to October
- February 5, 2021 |
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Kathryn Walson
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to thwart in-person meeting plans.
The National Business Aviation Association announced Friday that it has canceled all in-person events through June 30 due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.
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Meanwhile, AVIXA (The Audiovisual Integrated Experience Association) said Thursday that it has postponed its InfoComm 2021 Show in Orlando, Fla., to October 23-39. The show had been scheduled for June 12-18 in the same city.
NBAA said it is reviewing options for meeting virtually.
"We are disappointed that we will be unable to offer a robust slate of in-person events in the first half of 2021," NBAA CEO Ed Bolen said in a statement. "That said, the safety and security of our event participants has always been a core value for the association, and that is central to our decision. As we did in 2020, we are exploring opportunities to gather the business aviation community through various online initiatives, and we will provide details as soon as they are available."
NBAA's decision affects the 2021 Asian Business Aviation Conference & Exhibition, which was scheduled for April 13-15 in Shanghai; the 2021 NBAA Maintenance Conference, planned for May 11-13 in San Antonio; and the 2021 NBAA White Plains Regional Forum, scheduled for June 9 in White Plains, NY.
Earlier this week, NBAA and the European Business Aviation Association jointly announced the cancellation of the European Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition, planned for May 18-20 in Geneva. They plan to offer online programming instead that week.
AVIXA solicited feedback in January on rescheduling the event for the fall and "received overwhelming support for a postponement," AVIXA CEO David Labuskes said in a letter.
"As excited as the community is about the show, and as hopeful and optimistic as we remain in combatting the pandemic, it is believed that the U.S. will be further along in the battle against the pandemic by October than in June," the letter continued.
"We have not made this decision to postpone lightly and have relied on a great deal of feedback from the InfoComm show community, and we are grateful to you for engaging with us and supporting this deision," Labuskes wrote.
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