For the second time in Montréal, the AEROMART business convention opens today at the Palais des congrès de Montréal and will run until April 29.

For 14 years, AEROMART has been the largest networking event among contractors, OEMs, suppliers or subcontractors of aviation services worldwide.

More than 1,000 participants, representing some 500 aerospace companies from 22 countries around the world, are attending; Canada, of course, but also France, Spain, the United States, Italy, China, Japan, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and Brazil, to name a few.

Many large players in the global aerospace industry are also participating: AVIC, Bell Helicopter Textron Canada, Bombardier Aerospace, Boeing, CAE, Dassault, EADS, Esterline CMC Electronics, FINMECCANICA, GE Aviation, Pratt & Whitney, Rolls-Royce, SAFRAN, and Thales among them.

The event offers a program of B2B meetings, thematic sessions with experts on various aerospace issues and technology conferences and workshops allowing participants to showcase their special expertise and know-how. More than 8,000 business meetings are expected to be held.

The Global Supply Chain Summit organized by Aéro Montréal, the aerospace cluster of Metropolitan Montréal, in collaboration with the Québec Aerospace Association representing SMEs (AQA), will wrap up AEROMART nicely and allow participants to explore current challenges and future outlooks with international experts in supply chain management and sustainable development. The complete program for the event accompanies this release.

Representatives of the local aerospace industry emphasized the tremendous opportunity that AEROMART represents for all stakeholders in the sector.

“Many Canadian companies are world leaders in aerospace. We will take advantage of AEROMART to introduce the world to our world-class industrial capacity, our technologies, and our innovations,” said Marc Parent, President and CEO of CAE Inc., outgoing Chairman of the Board of Aéro Montréal, and Chairman of the Aerospace Industry Association of Canada (AIAC).

“With more than 400 companies located in all regions of the country employing over 80,000 Canadians and revenues of more than $23 billion, Canada will, I am sure, be able to put on a good show over the next few days,” he added.
“Globalization and rapidly changing markets have forced OEMs to change their supply methods to counter international competition. SMEs need to follow suit and adapt to have more power,” said Guillermo Alonso Jr., President of Alta Precision and Chairman of the Board of Directors of AQA.

“The AEROMART Montréal 2010 business convention represents an extraordinary opportunity for subcontractors to build strong relationships with major players in the supply chain,” he concluded.