Arguably the most important meeting in the world for business aviation took place in Geneva in May. EBACE, is the annual convention for the European business aviation industry and Alan Peaford was there.

It is no secret that the business aviation industry is in the doldrums. Programmes have been cancelled, production lines decimated by redundancies and supply chains rusting through lack of use. So, visitors to the huge Palexpo centre at Geneva airport could have been forgiven for expecting to see tumbleweed rather that twinjets at this year’s EBACE convention.

They couldn’t have been more wrong. The show had record numbers of exhibitors and the number of aircraft on the static park matched that of the pre-recession display.

“We have seen people here from Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East,” said Jack Lawless, president of Standard Aero subsidiary, Associated Air Centre. “This is now the most important show in our calendar,” he said. He was not alone.

Acropolis Aviation’s recently acquired an Airbus 319 Corporate Jet was featured in the Airbus exhibit on static display. Operations Manager Paul Travis had a resoundingly positive view of the experience. “EBACE was fantastic exposure for Acropolis and the timing couldn’t have been better. We’ve had the license and AOC just over three weeks and already we’re seeing overwhelming interest in our ACJ,” he said.

From the manufacturing point of view, Gulfstream president Joe Lombardo was bullish about the event. “We need to be here. Markets have changed. At one time most of our sales were in the United States. Now we recognise how much we need to be doing internationally.”

That view was echoed by Cessna’s president Jack Pelton, who said: “Levels of interest in our aircraft are definitely beginning to pick up and, while the recovery may be slow, there are reasons for optimism.

“Europe is arguably the most diverse region in the world for business aviation. There are established major markets like Germany and the UK, and I’m also optimistic about emerging markets. Before the economic downturn, for example, Eastern Europe was a very strong region for us and we are beginning to see signs—including Citation sales—of that business coming back.”

Honeywell took the opportunity of the convention to update its famous business aviation forecast which is usually at NBAA. It found more positive results than those released last October. The revisit showed that over the next five years, up to 34 percent of all new jet purchase plans in the world could come from Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

These findings reflect a significant increase over Honeywell’s prior survey results. In Europe, five-year new jet buying plans of 59 per cent increased by more than 19 points compared to surveys conducted prior to the economic downturn, a new record high despite sluggish economic performance present at the time of the survey.

In the Middle East and Africa, five-year new jet buying plans of 55 per cent increased by more than 10 points from pre downturn levels, also setting a new record. The Middle East, Asia and Africa regions usually rank as the areas with the highest purchase expectations but they are now joined by Europe despite the effects of the global recession.

International demand now accounts for more than 50 per cent of the new aircraft purchase plans projected over the next five years. Honeywell forecasts that the regional mix of deliveries will continue to reflect this global shift in share.

“Europe will undoubtedly remain a growth area for Cessna,” said Pelton. “Driven by the significant advantages that stem from business aviation, we expect the European Union to remain our single largest market outside the US for some time.” Like the other manufacturers Cessna brought a whole range aircraft to display including the CJ4 which made its European debut at the event.

The company says it expects to receive European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) certification for the Citation CJ4 by the end of the year. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification for the CJ4 was granted in March with the first customer delivery in the US in April.

The Citation CJ4 is the newest and largest member of the popular CJ family of business jets approved for single-pilot operations and shares a common pilot type rating with the other CJs. (A pilot rated to fly any one of the CJs is rated to fly them all.) Retail price in 2010 dollars for a typically equipped Citation CJ4 is $9 million.

The Citation CJ4 has a range of just over 3,710 km (2,000 nautical miles) and a top speed of 839 km per hour (453 knots) – both numbers greater than originally announced in 2006. It has a takeoff roll of 954 metres (3,130 feet) at maximum takeoff weight and is capable of a direct climb to 13,716 metres (45,000 feet) in just 28 minutes.

Hawker Beechcraft (HBC) were also showing off new aircraft. The King Air 350i was making its debut. Now equipped with the Rockwell Collins Venue cabin management system and state-of-the-art Beechcraft FlexCabin capability, the new King Air 350i was described at the show as setting the standard in cabin comfort, entertainment and flexibility while delivering unmatched fuel efficiency and the lowest operating cost per seat mile, making it one of the greenest aircraft available to business travellers today.