A panel of industry pioneers with over 20 years of experience in business aviation will provide their insights as part of the first ever thought leadership session at the NBAA 2021 Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The new session will be entitled Newsmakers: The Aviation Visionaries' Forecast and will focus on how technology, demographics, competition, consolidation and other factors are influencing the availability of safe, secure and sustainable on demand air transportation to more users than ever before.

Scheduled panelists include George Antoniadis founder of PlaneSense, Kenn Ricci founder of Directional Aviation Capital and Kenny Dichter founder of Wheels Up.

“The pace of innovation in business aviation is faster than ever,” says NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen. “We are pleased to host this panel of leaders who are shaping tomorrow's on-demand aviation landscape.”

The NBAA Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition will also host U.S. House Representatives Dina Titus, dean of the Nevada congressional delegation and Sam Graves, Missouri's sixth congressional district representative, as featured speakers at the Collegiate Connect Day.

Both are known on Capitol Hill for their interest in the U.S. aviation industry and both are members of the House General Aviation Caucus, where Graves serves as co-chair.

The Collegiate Connect Day will feature a wide range of student focused sessions and programming, as well as the unique opportunity for students to visit hundreds of exhibitors and a wide range of aircraft on display at NBAA-BACE.

Both have appeared at the convention previously with Graves speaking in 2012, 2013 and 2016 and Titus serving as the keynote speaker in 2015 and 2017.

“We are tremendously pleased to welcome these dedicated and tireless aviation advocates to NBAA's convention, and we thank them for their participation in Collegiate Connect Day, which is focused on introducing students to the many opportunities throughout our industry,” says Bolen.

The NBAA is also collaborating with aviation industry social media influencers to share highlights from the convention. Leading the influencers will be Sam Chui, who has 2.7 million YouTube subscribers. Business aviation stakeholders can follow Chui's daily commentary about the show on his YouTube page, his blog, Facebook page, Twitter page and photos on his Instagram page.

Other influencers on the day include: Tory Crosby, Owen Leipelt and Mindy Lindheim. NBAA's own social media channels will cover the show from set-up to the closing hour.