Setting out stalls in Friedrichshafen

opinion

by Yves Le Marquand

April 27, 2026

Business aviation took up almost half of the exhibiting space at this year's AERO Friedrichshafen.

A discontinuous leading edge is an aerodynamic feature used on aircraft wings to greatly improve stall and spin resistance. It allows aircraft to turn on a relative sixpence as a portion of the wing will continue to produce lift even if the remaining section has reached stall speed.

This is especially useful if you’re chasing carjackers. Daher was operating a demo flight for the Las Vegas Police Department in July 2025 with its Kodiak 900 (which features a discontinuous leading edge) when a live carjacking took place. The police asked Daher to help. The Kodiak crew found the suspect vehicle in 52 seconds and tracked it for 20 minutes until ground units secured an arrest.

There was no stalling (not just because Daher debuted the Kodiak 900) in the sleepy hills of southern Germany as it played host to Aero Friedrichshafen 2026. Unless you were caught in a queue trying to secure a bite to eat at lunchtime.

Business aviation had a bigger presence than ever at the show, making up 315 of the 860 exhibitors and taking up almost half of the exhibition space.

On the static display, business aviation was similarly prominent. Bombardier debuted its Global 6500, as did Dassault with the 6X, Cirrus’ new Vision Jet was in attendance and Textron brought its Citation Longitude and Ascend jets for the first time – the latter is on a European tour.

There were orders too. LUMINAIR announced a fleet order with Textron for nine Cessna Citation Latitude midsize jets. Deliveries will begin later this year, bringing the total fleet to 22 aircraft by mid-2027. French charter operator SD Aviation signed an order for a pair of Cessna Citation M2 Gen3s and a CJ3 Gen2, as well as options for three more light jets.

Textron also revealed it is offering Starlink connectivity as an aftermarket upgrade on the Citation Ascend after the product received FAA and EASA approval.

Future flight vendors were also present. Although largely centred on general aviation, aircraft developers such as French hydrogen-electric business jet maker Beyond Aero brought a business aviation focus.

Unsurprisingly, the show, which began as a fly-in for pilots back in the late 1970s, features a heavy German presence. Nestled on the shores of Lake Konstanz, Friedrichshafen is not an easy place to get to. Getting there from abroad could involve some or all of the following: taxis, trains, aircraft, rental cars and ferries. But that did not stop visitors from making the journey.

Hosted in the sprawling conference centre Messe Friedrichshafen, the vibe was relaxed, which some attributed partly to the sunshine, others to the beer and cocktails – which were flowing on the static display from mid-afternoon (and by mid-morning for some with impressive stamina).

The landscape for European business aviation shows remains unclear, but Aero is setting out its stall. Who knows how continuous this year’s leading edge will be?