Organization Cancels AERO Friedrichshafen 2021 for July

Messe Friedrichshafen, the organization behind AERO 2021—generally known as the largest general aviation event in Europe—had high hopes that the coronavirus pandemic that squashed plans for 2020 would abate enough to allow it to take place in July 2021. Those hopes were officially dashed on April 21, with an announcement from the group that COVID-19 concerns continued to make a large-scale indoor event next to impossible to carry through without undue hazard to attendees.

With soaring exhibit halls providing good ventilation and spacing, the plan to move forward with a July event felt reasonable—until ongoing travel restrictions and recent surges in cases in Europe and elsewhere in the world threw the cold water of reality onto that plan. The head of AERO Friedrichshafen Roland Bosch and project manager Tobias Bretzel said in a press release, “It is with a heavy heart that we have made this decision to cancel the leading trade show for General Aviation for the second time. However, a decision at this point in time is right and fair. We are now creating planning certainty for our exhibitors, visitors and suppliers. The current pandemic situation does not allow us to hold a trade show at the moment. However, we are looking ahead to the European Rotors trade show, which will be held in Cologne from November 16 to 18, 2021, and also to AERO 2022 (April 27-30, 2022), where we will welcome exhibitors and visitors back to Friedrichshafen.”