Fairhope, Alabama
FARNBOROUGH AIR SHOW
In an exclusive statement to the Times, Council President Jack Burrell said he thought the four days he and the mayor spent in England at the Farrnborough Air and Trade Show were a success; and could lead to Airbus-related industry locating at the Fairhope airport.
The cost of the trip was estimated to be about $5,000 each.
The vast majority of our time was spent meeting with potential business interests for our community. Many of our meetings were pre-scheduled, while other meetings were cold-calls from a prepared list of vendors that may have an interest in locating in South Alabama.
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| Mayor Kant, Congressman Byrne, Burrell |
In an exclusive statement to the Times, Council President Jack Burrell said he thought the four days he and the mayor spent in England at the Farrnborough Air and Trade Show were a success; and could lead to Airbus-related industry locating at the Fairhope airport.
The cost of the trip was estimated to be about $5,000 each.
Burrell:
"Our days were very long beginning around 7 am and ending typically around 10 pm. Most spent no more than an hour actually watching the airshow the entire time we were there.
The vast majority of our time was spent meeting with potential business interests for our community. Many of our meetings were pre-scheduled, while other meetings were cold-calls from a prepared list of vendors that may have an interest in locating in South Alabama.
The best thing about attending the airshow was the fact that we were able to have face to face discussions with the decision makers from nearly every aviation/aerospace company from around the globe.
The Alabama delegation was very large and consisted of elected officials from the local, state and national levels, representatives from the Alabama Department of Commerce, large corporations such as Alabama Power, academia such as the Deans of Engineering from the state universities, chamber of commerce members, and members of various Economic Development Alliances throughout the state.
We typically were divided into teams of 3-6 for our meetings. These meetings were well planned out. Some of these meetings consisted of fostering existing relationships with businesses, while others were meant to establish relationships with potential businesses that would potentially locate in southern Alabama.
There was a very strong sense of teamwork among the Alabama delegation with everyone pitching in. I believe that businesses could sense the teamwork that is Alabama, and this is very attractive to them."
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