EBACE Organizers Brace for Turbulence

Due to the possibility that it would be the target of environmental protesters, EBACE 2023 promises to be a display unlike any other. Other business conferences in Europe this year, such the EBAA’s AirOps2023 Conference in February, have come under fire from organized groups that tried to sabotage the gatherings.

The show’s organizers, EBAA and NBAA, stated they are ready for any scenario, despite the fact that a permission has been filed for a peaceful protest to take place Tuesday evening at Palexpo’s main entrance. “One difference that people will notice this year is that there is more emphasis on security,” said EBAA COO Robert Balthus. “There will be a few more checks, and there might be a bag check before you enter,”

While the EBAA hopes the protests will be orderly and peaceful, it stated various safety measures have been planned with the local authorities just in case. Balthus said, “As an organization, you have to think about all kinds of different scenarios to make sure you have a safe event, and hope that the protestors, rather than shout something, sit in on some sessions and listen to what we’re doing and also the questions we ask ourselves as an industry.”

“Are we doing enough, are there enough alternatives, and what can we do to improve things?” he asked rhetorically. “At the end of the day, there are so many stakeholders involved that just shouting ‘You need to start doing something’ is not going to help anybody.”

Balthus noted that the industry has been “doing something” on sustainability for more than a decade. “If you look at the Business Aviation Commitment to Climate Change, this is from 2009—before all the protests,” he said. “We as an industry already accepted that we needed to decarbonize, and we looked at an achievable pathway to achieve it. In 2021 we updated it to make sure we were still on the right path and actually brought some things forward, so the industry is working on it.”

Among the areas where business aviation is moving forward is being at the forefront of new technology such as advanced air mobility and potential new propulsion technologies. “That’s where we can lead the industry and are leading the industry by making sure we decarbonize as quickly as possible,” explained Balthus. But he noted that at the heart of the discussion there is common ground with the protestors: “We agree to disagree on the timetable, but not with what we want to achieve.”