An Aviation Schmooze Fest Reveals a Passenger’s Wish List for Jet Travel
Photo Credit: The Gogo stand at the Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg, where a barista was on hand to serve coffee. The event is the biggest of the year. Aircraft Interiors Expo 2018
Skift Take
Yes, there's some innovation on display at the annual Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg. But mostly, the three-day show is about networking and building relationships.
One afternoon earlier this month, just before his whiskey "ambassador" was to begin serving customers at the 4 p.m. happy hour— "I think he was appointed by the Scottish government" — James Lang, who likely knows more about airplane seat leather than anyone alive, spoke wistfully about the time several years ago when his company hired a bagpiper in an attempt to curry favor with airline executives.
"That caused the most monumental stir in the hall," said Lang, director of Scottish Leather Group, the UK's largest leather manufacturer. "It's just a little bit of fun. People either love piping or hate it. But you get noticed."
Few know more about what it takes to cause a scene at the annual Aircraft Interiors Expo than Lang, who remembers the first one, in Cannes, France, in 2000. No one knew what to expect, and, as he recalls, only about 30 or 40 companies came. "I think," he said, "the word, Cannes, hit people more than aircraft interior."
No longer.
Now, more than 14,00
