Aviation Industry Conference Week 2009

 

Marlborough Convention Centre

Blenheim

Monday July 27 - Friday July 31 2009

 

 

 

 

Principal Sponsor

Conference week – the Industry Event for Commercial Aviation

Our first conference week in Tauranga in 2008 was great however, the superlatives associated with Blenheim this year keep coming.

The Industry turned out in their droves; the trades did some excellent business, one commenting that he did in one week what a lot of travelling and six weeks would take and the sponsors generosity was overwhelming – all of this at a time when trading conditions in the industry are described as “fair-to-middling” to “extraordinarily tough”.

Conference week was abuzz from the moment of arrival to time of departure – the mood of the industry was extremely positive despite the challenges out there. People came to listen, learn, do business or simply catch up with the fantastic network conference week creates.

So what did we achieve?

• Our industry wide safety committee was launched and seven excellent presentations made on specific industry safety issues. This committee will grow in flavour and stature because it proves that industry players do want to share safety information, but in an environment where they are protected from possible punitive action
• The Aircraft Engineers Association of New Zealand was launched by one of the globes foremost safety experts Bill Voss, President and CEO of the Flight Safety Foundation who put out there the challenges of new technologies and the need to ensure enough engineers with the right skills to work in an industry where growth in the medium-to-long-term is a given
• The New Zealand Helicopter Association held its first conference and annual general meeting covering such issues as building a stronger voice for all who work in that sector of our industry; new technologies and emerging helicopter types, building stronger relationships with DoC and other key suppliers of services
• New initiatives with Defence where the industry is being encouraged to participate in the recently announced review – closer co-operation and building partnerships between the civil and military parts of our industry will be the hallmarks of the future
• Strengthened relationships with CAA – the Director spoke to both the main conference and NZAAA and talked about how they were tackling a number of the challenges his organisation was facing. The dialogue with all CAA employees and representatives of the Board was of an extremely high quality and it’s evident that new understandings are emerging of the way the industry will be regulated in the future.
• Officials representing a number of agencies were open and forthright in their desire to work constructively with the industry there was a genuine acknowledgement that collaboration in these challenging times will get us far whereas confrontation will delay solutions

Conference week’s not all about serious deliberation of the issues. Much fun was had with sheep shearing, sing-along, dress-up, entertainment and the inevitable cabaret act. Dinner attendees on the Monday and Thursday night functions at the Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre witnessed a remarkable event with the Bristol freighter domiciled at the airport firing up both engines – the first time this had been done for over a decade.

Heartfelt thanks go out to all our sponsors and we will be acknowledging these on our web site for some months to come.

The weather in Blenheim was incredible – don’t ever believe what the long-term forecasters say. It was generally sunny apart from the briefest of showers on the Tuesday night, but still and calm on the Wednesday morning for NZAAA’s demonstration day. Blenheim welcomed our delegates like only heartland New Zealand can, delegates enjoyed the fine wines and beautiful food the region produces.

Marlborough Convention Centre was near-perfect – the staff cheerful, helpful and worked like Trojans into the night as delegates and guests partied on into the wee small hours – the presence of a Bell 407 at every major convention night dinner was the icing on the cake. Moreover, don’t forget the MC – what a difference French waiters, beautiful women and ‘Nearly-Elton’ can make to a spectacular event!

We look forward to growing participation from our industry and sharing even more camaraderie next year; watch this space for the venue, which we hope to announce within the next month.

David Connor's paper as presented to the 2nd Annual Aviation Conference Week, Blenheim, July 2009