AirVenture 2013: Maybe the Market Is Stirring

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By Paul Bertorelli | July 28, 2013

When we gear up for AVweb’s coverage of AirVenture every year, we never know quite what to expect—a dead show that’s a news desert or a manic Monday where there’s so much news and so many new products that we can’t hope to keep up with it all.

As of Sunday night, it’s looking more like the latter than the former. The number of pre-show press releases companies send us, combined with scheduled press conferences on Monday—20 at last count and there may be more—is a reliable indication of how strong the show will be. When I ran into EAA’s Jack Pelton at the Redbird Redhawk intro on Saturday, he said there are a record number of vendors registered for AirVenture this year. All good stuff, but you won’t yet catch me using the r-word to describe any of it just yet. (I don’t want to jinx anything.)

One thing I have noticed is how busy the Sunday before the show can be, even ahead of the show being formally set up much less actually open. I saw a lot of show-goers walking around with bags of stuff, just the way they do by the middle of the week. Some tents and booths, I noticed, were set up but buttoned up, since they aren’t really required to be open. They may be missing the boat. Continental’s big new display was open for business and Mike Gifford told me they had already written a half-dozen orders. Well, if you’re here, you might as well sell something.

If you’re inbound to AirVenture today or sometime this week, you can probably bring a light sweater and not your parka. It was in the low 50s here last night and no one I talked to could recall it ever being this cold here in July. The forecast calls for mid-70s to 80s for the rest of the week and that’s a good thing. I’m from Florida and this weather definitely doesn’t suit my clothes.

If you see us in our AVweb green shirts this week, stop and say hello.

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