Athens provided the backdrop for Aviation Connect 2026 this week, with sunshine, warm temperatures, and the occasional rain shower – a fittingly changeable setting for an event that had plenty going on.
The Tuesday-to-Thursday event spread delegates across a collection of rooms and tracks covering pharma, GSSAs, air cargo handling, cargo airport development, road feeder services, airline ground services, GSE, and ramp operations.
It is one of the things that makes Aviation Connect different from the traditional air cargo conference: rather than sitting through a 45-minute panel because it happens to be on the agenda, delegates could pick and choose sessions relevant to them. The downside was that some rooms can look distinctly sparse – despite around 600 people having registered for the event – which presumably isn’t quite as satisfying for the speakers.
There was also an exhibition hall, with companies showing off their latest products and services, as well as plenty of networking. The HACTL chocolate stand once again proved a returning favourite.
AI has, perhaps unsurprisingly, been a recurring theme. But one delegate I spoke to complained there was simply too much talk about it – a view quickly supported by the four other people standing around us. Their argument wasn’t that AI isn’t important, but that the technology isn’t yet mature enough to deliver changes proportional to the amount of attention it receives.
Away from the conference rooms, there were plenty of scenic opportunities in which to socialise, including Tuesday’s rooftop party and Wednesday’s beach party.
The rooftop event featured synchronised swimmers – six women dressed as cabin crew, who removed their outfits to reveal swimwear before performing a 10-minute routine in the pool. The performance was impressive, but its positioning immediately before the Women in Air Cargo Awards, however, felt rather awkward. Celebrating women’s professional achievements directly following a performance of women dressed as air staff stripping off, seemed an unfortunate juxtaposition.
Despite that, the general consensus among those I’ve spoken to is that Aviation Connect is often their favourite event of the year, and it was announced yestday that Aviation Connect 2027 will take place in Lisbon from 2-4 November.
But there could be one cloud on the horizon – with significant budget cuts across the industry, several delegates speculated that air cargo events could become less well attended in the coming months and years.