Dispatchers and pilots meeting in Europe?

[cdrbud]

The USA has the Schedulers and Dispatchers Meeting and the International Operators Conference. Europe doesn’t have anything like it. How about arranging for a meeting in Europe during Spring 2009 for dispatchers, pilots, operators, and FBOs? A meeting for exchange of experiences, information, and networking; workshops, forums, round-table sessions, etc.

[merlinxx]

Check EBAA | European Business Aviation Association (http://www.ebaa.org) & the EBACE site. The gatherings you refer to are all committees of the NBAA, check National Business Aviation Association, Inc. (http://www.nbaa.org).

They are not seperate organisations. Good luck in your endeavours:ok:

[cdrbud]

I have tried to communicate with EBAA about what is needed. But I'm not getting anywhere because it is not understood what is needed. A journalist that i communicate with wrote this to me: "
To be honest, I think EBAA does not have the resources or appetite to organise another event. They tried with their regional forums and failed. In my view this is because the forums were mainly staged events to talk to boring, self-interested local politicians. Your meeting seems to be for industry people to have a good talk to each other. EBAA has very few staff and it is as much as they can do to organise EBACE (with NBAA help).
So now I took the decision to take it upon myself to make a move. I'll be calling the event BA-MEETUP. I'm getting great support from the folks at Lyon Bron airport. So it will be held in Lyon, France. The website is www.ba-meetup.com (http://www.ba-meetup.com) . I'm just going to move ahead because someone has to take the lead. I hope that I will get support.

[graham stephenson]

A great idea and very much needed as not everyone in the insustry is able to afford the money or time to go to the USA for their Schedulers and Dispatchers meeting.

I recommend this event to all active FBOs and Dispatchers, trip planners and operators and indeed all aviation organsiations linked to Business Aviation. It is a great opportunity for securing new buisiness and offsetting the effects of the recession in our own businesses. This event should also be actively supported by the EBAA.

I gather that already a significant number of organsiations are registered and the event is well sponsored. I will certainly be attending.

[cdrbud]

The next BA-Meetup is scheduled to take place Feb 24-26, 2010 in Lyon (in the Eurexpo next to Airport Lyon-Bron). The first BA-Meetup had a bit of a rough time due to budget limitations on travel and conference attendence. The event was therefore rescheduled to EBACE. As for the meetings they were well attended and especially the interaction and exchange of expertise and experience was valuable. This meeting has proven to be needed. The 2010 should receive quite a number of visitors.

[Moaiad]

Please keep me posted with any news concerning this meeting.

[justintime5]

I have been thinking about a place for this and after a lot of thinking (not really) I think that the best place is Palma, Majorca in Spain.
This should be done on Sept. for the following reasons:
1. Great Place
2. Plenty of acomodation options
3. Cheap flights form all over Europe
4. Many places to hold the event and in 1 years time will have a brand new convention center.
5. Local govermnets (they have a few for some reason) are willing to help with events that bring people to the island outside the typical summer months.
6. If the place where the event is held is attractive wifes will be willing to let their husbands go (if they also go with them and disapear the rest of the day shoping and sunbathing) This makes the succes rate a lot higher.

Like the idea? :ok:

[cdrbud]

To keep informed, you may want to visit the BA-Meetup website from time-to-time: www.ba-meetup.com (http://www.ba-meetup.com). At this time we are in contact with a number of highly qualified people to be the moderators of various sessions and we are planning the program. For sure, we will have a workshop for Dispatchers in Business Aviation. If permitted, I will post some of most interesting developments in the program here.

[cdrbud]

In principle nothing against Mallorca. However September is not a good time for this event. February/March is really best. Looking at the calendar, one also has to keep the scheduling of other events in mind. For the initial BA-Meetup Istanbul, Lissabon, Barcelona, and Paris were considered. Eventually Lyon was chosen. Sure, the climate in Mallorca would be more appealing in winter, but at the end this is a serious meeting where people gather to get something done. So, it is February 24-26, 2010 in Lyon. It is an advantage to have the venue Eurexpo and Business Airport Lyon-Bron right next to each other just in case at some time a static display or practical demonstration may become part of the event. For attendees who would like to have some vacation days before or after the event we aim to arrange for a ski-weekend in one of the Alpine resorts in France or Switzerland if there is enough interest.

[pacificwind]

The big difference between dispatchers in North America (ie U.S.A. and Canada) is that they are licensed and/or certified by Federal law and must undergo competency checks on a regular basis. As a result, there is more of an alliance amongst the groups than in the U.K. or continental Europe where flight planners/dispatchers are not required to be licensed. There was talk of licensing the European counterparts some time ago but haven't heard anything further. I had also heard rumours that certain pilot groups were against the motion.