THE SECOND AERO SOUTH AFRICA EXPO

The second edition of AERO South Africa took Wonderboom Airport in from 7 - 9 July 2022 at Tshwane (Pretoria).

THE THREE-DAY EVENT was generally reckoned to be a success by exhibitors, with the consensus being that the expense of the expo was paid for many times over during the event.

The Aero Expo covered the full spectrum of General Aviation products, technology and services with almost all the major suppliers taking advantage of the concentration of members of the South African aviation community.

After the novelty of the first edition, the 2022 Aero had slightly fewer exhibitors than the inaugural event held before the Covid pandemic. In 2019 there were over 100 exhibitors, while this year the number dropped to 72. However many exhibitors felt that the quality of the expo was not compromised. Notably, exhibition space increased from 4200m² in 2019 to 5106m² at this year's show.

Ray Watts reports that, "Exhibitors ranged from an air ambulance company through to avionics, engine components, tracking devices and insurance brokers and underwriters. Most of them were in the big, tented hall and some were outside on the apron, but all were well displayed and easily accessible.

the quality of the expo was not compromised

"Every time I went for a walk about, there were people at every stand, and I can only hope that business was being conducted. I was surprised at the number of young people who were enquiring about flying training. These were not just people making polite conversation, but also people who were genuinely interested and I hope that all the flight schools that were exhibiting received really worthwhile enquiries.