Airbus Helicopters have confirmed to HeliHub.com that they will not be attending Heli-Expo, with the quote below

“Airbus Helicopters is proud to showcase its products and services at Heli Expo, our industry’s largest trade show, and looks forward to the occasion each year. As eager as we are to resume in-person trade shows, we do not feel that the current state of the COVID-19 pandemic would allow for us to fully ensure the health and safety of our employees, partners, suppliers, customers and guests. For this reason, Airbus Helicopters will not be participating in the Heli Expo trade show currently scheduled for March 22-25. We remain dedicated to supporting HAI and the entire aviation community safely” 

Despite HAI’s bullish release last week, the lack of support from Airbus is a body blow to the Heli-Expo 2021 event.

As Joe Biden becomes President of the US this week, it is reported that he will start a 100 day lockdown in a bold attempt to get the spread of #COVID19 under control.  As this is being written, the US CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) is stating that 394,495 people have lost their lives in the US to the pandemic, and a total of 23,653,919 cases have been identified.  The equivalent figures for the state of Louisiana, where Heli-Expo is currently scheduled to take place, are 8,203 and 364,853 respectively.

Let’s hope that HAI can pivot at least some of the event into an online version – certainly there would be an expectation that the conference streams should all still be able to go ahead online.

Jeremy Parkin – HeliHub.com