NBAA and IADA Deepen Alliance Ahead of 2026 NBAA-BACE

The National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) and the International Aircraft Dealers Association (IADA) are deepening their alliance for the 2026 NBAA Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (NBAA-BACE), scheduled for October 20-22. Nearly 50 IADA accredited dealers and certified brokers will co-brand or partner with IADA's NBAA-BACE exhibit footprint and contribute to convention discussion sessions focused on aircraft transactions, market conditions and pre-purchase evaluations.

On October 20, IADA Executive Director Lou Seno will participate in a session titled "Decreasing the Risk, Cost and Time of the Pre-Purchase Event," designed to give participants actionable tools to optimize the transaction process. On October 21, IADA executives will join the "Market Outlook: Aircraft Broker Insights" panel, covering aircraft availability, pricing, demand and transaction activity. IADA technical experts and the NBAA Maintenance Committee have also collaborated on a session addressing pre-purchase inspection best practices, aimed at buyers, sellers, dealers and others involved in aircraft transactions.

Jo Damato, CAM Fellow and NBAA Senior Vice President of Events and Professional Engagement, said IADA dealers and brokers "bring critical expertise in aircraft transactions and market dynamics," adding that the expanded participation "strengthens the value we provide to the industry, from operators and flight departments to maintenance providers and suppliers." Seno said IADA's objective "is not simply to have a larger presence at NBAA-BACE, but to make a greater contribution to the business aviation community," and that working with NBAA lets IADA "put the expertise of IADA-accredited dealers and certified brokers to work for aircraft buyers, sellers and the broader business aviation industry."

Trade associations pairing programming with accredited-member expertise is a recurring move at large conventions, where the organizers rely on practitioner credibility to fill sessions on technical and transactional topics that a general convention agenda cannot cover on its own. Placing pre-purchase inspection and risk-reduction content directly alongside a dealer network's exhibit footprint reflects how the aircraft transaction segment depends on trusted intermediaries: buyers and sellers lean on accredited dealers and brokers precisely because valuation, inspection and deal structuring are specialized and hard to standardize otherwise.

What happens at the sessions themselves, particularly the "Market Outlook: Aircraft Broker Insights" panel on aircraft availability, pricing and demand, will be the next test of whether this collaboration translates into usable market signals for attendees rather than just expanded exhibit visibility.