COVID-19 Effect: SDC closes early, EBACE in doubt

With an eye on the increasing outbreak of Covid-19, NBAA is closing its Schedulers & Dispatchers Conference a day early, as well as canceling its upcoming 2020 International Operators Conference (IOC2020) and Business Aircraft Finance, Registration, & Legal Conference. Working with its board, NBAA also is evaluating other events scheduled through July 1, the association added, saying “information will be coming out shortly.”

S&D, which opened on Tuesday, was set to go through tomorrow in Charlotte, North Carolina. NBAA has decided to cancel all educational programming tomorrow but said it is exploring options for virtually providing some educational content from that programming.

The association is exploring possibilities to facilitate a virtual version of IOC2020 in April. That event had been scheduled for March 16 to19, also in Charlotte. Details on a virtual version are anticipated shortly. Its now-canceled Business, Aircraft Finance, Registration, & Legal Conference was to have been held March 22 to 24 in Amelia Island, Florida.

NBAA has already canceled ABACE, which was to have been held next month in Shanghai. Looming large is EBACE, one of NBAA’s cornerstone events that is held annually in conjunction with EBAA in late May in Geneva. As with ABACE, decisions need to be made earlier for EBACE, given the logistics of setting up such a large-scale exhibition.