Airport venues are increasingly popular for heavy equipment shows as well as the air shows for which they were typically built. The prospect of exhibitors landing their equipment and simply crossing a strip of tarmac to lay their products out for incoming visitors poses quite an incentive, as does the prospect of saving the cost and inconvenience of sleeping in a hotel and dropping in and out of a hotel on the same day. It certainly works for venues such as Palexpo in Geneva, Switzerland, home to the Geneva International Motor Show.
Recent research by AMR International indicates that a lack of freedom to spend time away from the office has led to reduced hours in the exhibition halls.
The fact hasn’t escaped the notice of two venues in development in Germany and Dubai, and another being planned in the US, looking to up the ante for organisers running major equipment shows and, of course, big international air shows.
In Berlin a new multi-purpose exhibition centre titled Berlin ExpoCenter Airport is almost ready for completion, due in May/June 2012. The venue is just 800 metres from Berlin’s new BER airport, a future international hub near the village of Selchow.
The 50,000sqm venue is already scheduled to host exhibitions including the Berlin Air Show (ILA) and a launch fashion industry event Panorama. An outdoor display area for spectators and access routes covering 100,000sqm will also be built for this year’s edition of the show.
The Al-Maktoum International Airport in Dubai is developing its own ‘Aerotropolis’ at the heart of the new 150sqkm Dubai World Central, a strategic initiative by the Government of Dubai. The site includes a dedicated exhibition area, a factor behind it winning the 2013 Dubai Air Show.
“There are hundreds of aerospace-dedicated events, and more than half the market comes to Dubai because we now have the ideal space for it,” Alison Weller, MD of organiser F&E Aerospace, tells EW.
Take-off in the deserts
It’s in Las Vegas where perhaps the most significant new airport development is unfolding. A new company has been set up to develop and build a 92,000sqm venue on the outskirts of the desert city.
AeroQuestUSA is making plans for a new exhibition and convention centre on the site of Henderson Airport, 24km south of the city’s largest convention centre; the Las Vegas Sands Expo and Convention Centre.
AeroQuestUSA’s president and CEO Kenneth Gazzola says the venue is being built with large equipment and utility shows in mind; shows he claims “don’t currently exist in Las Vegas”. The loading areas at the venue are designed to be oversized to accommodate air shows, boat shows or other large equipment events.
“While the number of aerospace and defence shows in Las Vegas is currently small, we hope to grow this segment,” adds AeroQuestUSA business development director Lisa Mayo-DeRiso. “Las Vegas has a solid history in this industry, with Nellis and Creech air force bases and the Nevada Test and Training Range.” Watch this (aero) space.
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