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Home | Update | LATEST ISSUE | Gallery | FR Profile | Datafiles | FR 7/98 ILA NEEDS FACELIFT TO SURVIVE by Norbert Burgner ILA is important. But ILA means business, East meets West, ILA as the most important European exibition of the year? - definetely not. The International Aerospace Exibition ILA in Berlin-Schönefeld in its current guise is on the best way towards irrelevance. After the end of the event on May 24th even the greatest rabulists with their outdated doctrines should have realised that ILA desperately needs a facelift. Of course the industry is well off at the moment, as the CEO of Daimler-Benz Aerospace and president of the society of German aerospace companies BDLI, Dr. Manfred Bischoff, put it in his inaugural speech in Berlin. But this never had any influence on the profitableness of aerospace exhibitions in the past nor will it have such in the future. Even in comparably bad times the industry represented itself at several trade shows, for the events all over the globe, be it in Singapore, Dubai, Dallas, Las Vegas, Zhuhai, Farnborough or Paris, act only as platforms for the anouncement of already finished deals. Therefore neither Boeing chief Phil Condit nor Airbus director Forgeard or Dasa boss Bischoff really need the ILA to meet for example with potenial customers from Eastern Europe. The East-West Aerospace Center does not change this situation a bit, which could not have been better demonstrated at this year's exhibition: no matter at what time of day one visited the consultation and conference centre, the so-called consulting rooms were either deserted or manned only by the responsible staff - a sorrow picture. Who shoud have or would have wanted to meet anyone there anyway? The so often quoted US presence resulted only from the 50th anniversary of the Berlin airlift. In this context US president Bill Clinton had set a sign with his christening of a C-17 with the title "Spirit of Berlin". A sign which simply had to be followed. Behind closed doors, though, the members of the US delegation showed some doubts on the concept of the German fair. Inofficially, the other large-industry companies present at Berlin together with the international press did not show much appreciation for the self-conceit the organisers indicated again this year by comparing themselves with Farnborough and above all, with the Aérosalon. London and Paris are the locations where the industry has to fly its flag. Furthermore both organisers of these shows are acting by the will of their governments. The French and the British industry associations GIFAS and SBAC are constantly sponsored by their states to safeguard the position of their shows. That is exactly what ILA lacks. The aerospace show costs around twelve million German marks. The organisers received one million marks from the German Government, two millon marks from Berlin and 2,5 million marks from Brandenburg for each show. But the government in Bonn signalised this year that a continuation of this support would be very unwelcome to say the least. Berlin's budget has been disgraced by a gaping hole for years, and the financial situation in Brandenburg is not much better. Therefore a secured financing of the next International Aerospace Exhibition in Berlin in the year 2000 appears to be very cloudy, just at a time when the airshow at Farnborough attempts to finish off the ILA by rescheduling its event to early summer. Additionally the Convention of the Internatioanl Air Transport Association IATA will take place at the same time and may draw the airline industry away from Berlin. Hard times are in store for ILA, times to which one has to adapt to. ILA's advantage is the air display with an impressive number of aircraft to be looked at both in the air and on the ground. Another important and well-liked item by both industry and public is the hall solely dedicated to spaceflight. The attractivity of the exibition in this field was emphasised by the presence of all major space companies with an unprecedented presentation. ILA's importance on this sector was further demonstrated by the participation of the world's most important space agencies. Thus, flanked by an air display for the public, there indeed exists a future potential that could be possibly supplemented by an European pendant of the important US business aircraft exibition NBAA. Germany needs the technology showcase ILA. But the fact that the International Aerospace Exhibition has been opening its doors since 1909 and therefore is the oldest of its kind, should not cause the organisers to keep holding on to obsolete concepts. Otherwise the airshow days of ILA are numbered. From page 6 of FLUG REVUE 7/98 Home | Update | LATEST ISSUE | Gallery | FR Profile | Datafiles | FR 7/98 Copyright 1998 by Motor-Presse Stuttgart. All rights reserved. Last updated June 9, 1998 FLUG REVUE, Ubierstr. 83, 53173 Bonn, Germany