NBAA-BACE 2026 lands in Las Vegas from October 20 to 22, with exhibits and education sessions at the Las Vegas Convention Center’s West Hall and roughly 80 business aircraft on static display at Henderson Executive Airport. It is the single biggest gathering on the business aviation calendar, and this year’s event is shaping up to be one of the largest in recent memory. If you are weighing a purchase, a sale, or you just want a read on where the market stands heading into 2027, this is the week the whole industry shows its hand in one place.
The Basics: Dates, Venue, and Scale
Organizers expect more than 17,000 aviation professionals to attend, with roughly 760 exhibiting companies covering the full business aviation ecosystem, from airframe manufacturers down to avionics shops, maintenance providers, interior designers, and insurance carriers. The convention floor runs at the Las Vegas Convention Center, while the static display at Henderson Executive Airport gives attendees a chance to walk the ramp and step aboard aircraft in person rather than look at them on a screen.
That in-person, walk-the-ramp element is what sets NBAA-BACE apart from most industry events. A spec sheet tells you cabin dimensions and range numbers. Standing in the cabin tells you how it actually feels to fly six hours in that seat.
Who’s Showing Up
Fourteen or more major aircraft manufacturers are confirmed to exhibit this year, spanning the full range from light jets to large cabin and ultra-long-range aircraft, plus helicopters. That list includes:
- Boeing Business Jets
- Bombardier
- Dassault Aviation
- Gulfstream Aerospace
- Textron Aviation
Beyond the airframers, the exhibitor list runs deep into the operational side of ownership, including training providers like FlightSafety and CAE, fractional and charter operators, FBO chains, and maintenance and completions shops. For anyone doing real diligence on an aircraft management company or a maintenance provider, NBAA-BACE is one of the few weeks a year where most of the serious options are standing in the same room.
What’s New This Year
NBAA has added several new elements to the 2026 program on top of the usual exhibit floor and education sessions:
- Horizon Stage and Creator Studio, new experiential spaces built around the industry’s next generation of talent and content
- An expanded Career Zone, with a specific focus on connecting military members transitioning to civilian careers with operators looking to hire
- More than 70 education sessions across three tracks covering operations, safety, regulatory topics, and pilot career development
- A pilot career fair at the close of the event, connecting flight instructors and commercial pilot graduates directly with regional and corporate operators
NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen framed the industry’s current moment bluntly: “In business aviation, we’re not waiting for the future, we’re building it.” He added that “the industry is moving at Mach speed,” a comment that tracks with the record-setting attendance NBAA’s spring 2026 events already posted this year. NBAA Senior Vice President Jo Damato echoed that sentiment, noting that people across the industry are “excited for this opportunity to shape the future of business aviation.”
Confirmed speakers this year include aviation finance veteran Steven Udvar-Hazy and Ross Perot Jr., among other aerospace industry leaders, adding some heavyweight perspective to the education program beyond the usual operational sessions.
Why It Matters If You’re Buying or Selling
NBAA-BACE is not a retail sales floor, but it is where you get the clearest read of the year on where OEMs, lenders, and management companies think the market is headed. A few reasons it is worth paying attention to even if you never set foot in Las Vegas:
- Pricing and production signals. Manufacturers use this week to talk publicly about backlog, delivery timelines, and where demand is strongest by category, all of which feed directly into how new aircraft are priced against the pre-owned market.
- New model announcements and updates. Program updates, certification milestones, and new variant announcements cluster around this event more than any other single week of the year.
- A concentrated view of the used market’s competition. With every major manufacturer and a large share of management and charter operators in one building, it is the fastest way to compare what is actually competing for a buyer’s attention right now.
Whether you attend in person or just watch the headlines that come out of it, NBAA-BACE 2026 is worth building into your timeline if you are planning a purchase, a sale, or an upgrade decision over the next twelve months.
Thinking About Your Next Move Before or After NBAA-BACE?
Holstein Aviation will have company representatives on the ground at NBAA-BACE 2026 in Las Vegas this year. If you’re attending the show, we would genuinely like to meet you in person, so contact us and we will be happy to coordinate a meeting.
Whether you’re weighing a purchase, considering listing an aircraft, or just want a straight read on how this year’s announcements affect the segment you’re watching, the team at Holstein Aviation can walk you through it.
Sources:
- Travel And Tour World, “NBAA-BACE 2026 in Las Vegas Set to Bring 17,000 Aviation Professionals and Hundreds of Exhibitors From Around the World”
- Aviatize, “NBAA-BACE 2026 Visitor Guide”
- Autonomy Global, “Momentum, Excitement High as Industry Readies for NBAA-BACE”
- Aviation International News, “NBAA-BACE Taking Shape with Expanded Program, Most OEMs,” September 3, 2026
