Jetrader - March/April 2008 - 9

Roll Out the Red Carpet his year’s ISTAT conference, March 9-11 at the Omni Orlando Resor t at C ha mpion sGate in Orlando, Fla., marks the 25th year the association has brought together leaders in the aviation industry for the annual ISTAT conference. ISTAT President Michael Platt, Chief Investment Officer at Aircastle Advisor LLC in Stamford, Conn., has attended about half of those conferences and has witnessed the event’s impressive growth firsthand. T you just ran into people there. It’s much more organized now than simply showing up and seeing who you run into, and it has to be that way because of how big the conference has become. Jetrader: How has ISTAT ’s conference changed and grown over the years? Michael Platt: It’s grown tremendously in terms of the number of people attending, in terms of its importance and in terms of the seniority of the people attending. It’s really become a must-attend event for people in the aviation industry. It’s the only time the seniorlevel industry leaders are in one location. I’ve been going to the conferences for 12 or 13 years, and when I first started, maybe there were 150 or 175 people there. Now, we have more than a thousand. One of the biggest changes I have seen, is that now people have to prearrange meetings before they get there. It used to be J: What should attendees look forward to during ISTAT’s 25th anniversary conference? MP: In addition to a lineup of great speakers, we also have some fun things planned during the receptions that we’d rather not talk about until we actually get there. And it’s a particularly important time because a lot of people are thinking that the market has peaked and we’re in for some changes, so it’s really a good time to gauge what’s in store for our industry. Though there are concerns about an economic slowdown, a lot of opportunities arise when there’s an economic downturn. A lot of our members have made a lot of money in the up-cycles and down-cycles, as well. I’m sure plenty of deals will be made during the conference. One of the highlights of this conference will be at the gala dinner, when we give the ISTAT Award to Joe Sutter, who designed the 747. If you look at the recipients of the award over the years, they’ve been real industry luminaries, like Herb Kelleher of Southwest, Fred Smith, who founded FedEx, and the list goes on and on. We’ve honored the best and the brightest and the most creative people who have represented our industry. Jetrader 9

Jetrader - March/April 2008

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