Solairus Aviation exhibited at booth 1035 during this year's S&D conference at the San Diego Convention Center from January 15-18, 2012. Conference attendees met ten select members from Solairus' executive management team, private jet charter sales, flight coordination, dispatch, and marketing departments. Solairus Aviation team members Craig Zirzow, Ryan Hernandez, and Eric Wildt share their personal highlights below.
Craig Zirzow — Senior Director of Charter Sales:
The 2012 S&D conference proved to be another successful step in furthering Solairus’ name with prospective private charter jet clients. First off I would give high marks to our Marketing Manager, Eric Wildt, for his efforts with our conference program and new booth design. A consistent theme developed from other exhibitors, competitors, and customers who had positive comments on our booth for its professionalism and clean design.
The event itself had a consistent flow of traffic and good attendance over past years. I would give feedback to NBAA to create small blocks of time that are ‘exhibit only’ times, so that private jet charter clients and attendees have more time to spend on the show floor. Overall, it was a great conference to stay connected and to meet all new industry contacts.
Ryan Hernandez — Flight Coordination:
This was a successful Schedulers and Dispatchers conference for me as it really opened my eyes to where we stand as a company within the private jet charter community and how our standards/procedures stand up to our competitors. It was extremely beneficial to meet with vendors we currently use and to put a face with a familiar contact, learn more about their services, and gently remind some current vendors that we'll continue to expect the best service they have to offer to our private jet charter clients. Attending the meet and greet parties, making new contacts, and promoting Solairus to people new to the industry was fantastic as well.
I also attended several classes, including “Understanding the Value of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) within the Scheduling/Dispatching Function”. This class covered creating SOP's and using risk analysis within your SMS program. We also overviewed the FAA and ICAO requirements of a SMS and covered the four pillars of Safety Policy, Safety Risk Management, Safety Assurance, Safety Promotion.
I really enjoyed attending this conference and took a lot away from it. Hope to go back next year and represent Solairus again!
Eric Wildt — Marketing Manager:
After having attended a number of NBAA functions over the last few years, I was especially proud of how well Solairus Aviation has been received by the business jet community and with our private jet charter clients as well. Every event, the increasing amount of attendees that come to our booth that already know who Solairus is and what we're all about really shows how successful our team has been in getting the word out about our company's commitment to service and safety. With a steady stream of visitors to our booth all week, we also received a lot of great feedback from our tongue-in-cheek anti-iPad giveaway promotion. People loved the joke and fought hard to earn our $1000 Visa gift cards!
S&D always kick starts the special event calendar for us and this year Solairus will be attending and sponsoring business aviation and private jet charter events across the nation, with a few select appearances overseas as well. At Solairus, we know that private aviation is a people business. That is why we try to attend as many special events as possible. We want to speak with our vendors, clients, and stakeholders in person to ensure that our relationships stay strong, communication flows freely, and objectives and expectations remain exceeded.
So with that in mind, we look forward to seeing you at our next event soon!
