The Air Charter Expo (ACE), held at London’s Biggin Hill Airport, has established itself as one of the leading annual gatherings for the global business aviation community and we were kindly invited to indulge in the festivities.
On the face of it the expo brings together operators, brokers, manufacturers, FBOs, and support services for a focused one-day exhibition that combined static aircraft displays, conference sessions, and networking opportunities.
The reason we were there?
Private jets!
It’s been a dream of mine since the YouTube channel started to find a way onto an empty leg flight as we head to another country towards a theme park or attraction. There has also been this reoccurring dream in my head of opening the 100,000 subscriber play button whilst onboard a private jet so ahead of reaching 50,000 subscribers I thought I’d plan early by attending this event.
Surrounded by helicopters, private jets and expo networking desks what I did find at the exhibition was how socially distant the booths were from passing guests, no one handing out leaflets or freebies or drawing people to their booth it was very standoffish but with the sun shining outside we quickly left the indoor section and took in the full array of jets parked outside.
From the chauffeur driven car to the terminal to the caviar on tap at one particular helicopter booth ACE25 allows you to dip your toes into the luxury market but this is very much for the professionals who revel in this niche and not so much for people like myself simply enquiring about empty legs as it was tough to distinguish which plane was from which company and what each one offered but I managed to get there in the end after a few quick chats.
This one day event allows all key industry players to network and make the most of the time they have. With such a broad range of delegates the opportunities were rife for professionals to have meetings if albeit a little rushed being a one day event so whilst you’re there, make it count!
At no point during the event did we ever feel out of place, yes there were a lot of wealthy individuals walking around and even some Rolls Royce SUV’s acting as chauffeur vehicles parked outside but it felt very welcoming and that all started with the PR team who kindly invited us.
Janet was so lovely, warm and welcoming in person just as much as she was on emails and it was nice to see, I was expecting a whole event of ego’s and instagram models posing for the ‘gram’ next to their private jet but this was certainly much more professional and upmarket and I really liked and appreciated that.
If I had any negative about the event I would say that a lot of sit-down meetings and chats seemed to be taking place on the jets themselves so we couldn’t always get onboard to have a look around and no one was on the ground directing who was allowed in and out of the jet at any given time.
The incredible Dassault Falcon X8 had someone at the steps allowing groups in on their own to film / look around and when they were done with their viewing or content creation he would then allow others to enter, this was a great way of doing it but sadly the jets outside had people inside having a chat and just walking onto a jet mid-meeting or conversation just felt rude so people sort of stayed away.
What I would absolutely love to see in the future is maybe a test-flight even if it was done as a ballot where one plane would take off do a little loop around and back down if only for my own selfish milestones to actually get on one of these planes one day but we overheard a few people at the event saying the same and I thought yup, it’s not just me who’s thinking this!
The Air Charter Expo 25 at Biggin Hill was certainly a great event to be asked to attend and be a part of and it really is something for everyone who has a passion about private jet aviation or those who are involved directly in the business.
It is very much a networking event but if you catch it right you can board the jets and indulge in a little luxury and if you do your research you can definitely afford an empty leg flight via numerous UK operators.
From a fan and not a professionals perspective there is more than enough at the Air Charter Expo 25 to give inspiration for those interested in the future of luxury aviation.
Find out more at https://www.aircharterexpo.com/default.html
