Innovation and sustainability – the 2 top trends of AERO 2022

After the successful participation at AERO 2022 Show, Magnus Blog conducted a short interview with the organizing team about the most relevant trends and experiences they gained connected to this year’s event.

After the covid situation, AERO show had been arranged again. How do you see, what are the most noticeable changes in trends of the industry after the covid times?

We saw a big push towards sustainable aviation and specifically electric aviation this year as our e-flight expo in hall A7 was completely occupied. In addition, more than 70 exhibitors participated at our new AERO Sustainable Aviation Trail across the entire venue. Also, we noticed in general a big number of innovations and world premieres at the event due to the fact of the two-year pandemic break. 

What do you identify as the biggest challenges which general aviation and more specifically ultralight aviation will face in the next 1-3 years?

For the GA we foresee the topic of availability of unleaded fuel as a major challenge within the upcoming years. Also, we foresee that sustainability will become increasingly important for the entire aviation industry and also for the ultralight sector. Furthermore, a key question will be how to attract the young generation to become pilots in order to keep or even increase the number of pilots.

The industry players and aviation enthusiast visitors had been really waiting for AERO after missing 2 years. How was the atmosphere? Could you share some of the most interesting / surprising feedback you received regarding AERO 2022?

The atmosphere was truly great! We are very happy with how AERO 2022 turned out. Over 633 exhibitors and 27 700 visitors from 75 nations came to Friedrichshafen. So it was also a truly international event.
We recognized that everyone wants to connect again – live, in person. People were enthusiastic, talkative, and grateful to use our platform which promises great networking.
I think one of the greatest feedback we received was that this year’s edition has been the most successful one in over 10 years. And even you, Magnus, told us that it has been the best one within the last 5 years. 
AERO has been a success and we are looking forward to an even greater show next year!

Looking into the near future, what kind of  developments do you plan for AERO 2023 if it is not a secret?

We are planning to increase the Sustainable aviation topic even more with our e-flight expo and our AERO Sustainable Aviation Trail. Furthermore, we want to organize an e-flight Rallye for AERO 2023. Also, we want to increase and strengthen the Ultralight segment and hope to welcome back a few more exhibitors who could not exhibit in 2022 due to reasons linked to Covid or the war in Ukraine. In addition, we are looking into the supply chain topic where we might have a high-profile side event. So overall many new and exciting ideas and topics which make the next edition definitely worth visiting and participating!