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The Australian aeronautical industry is gathering interest across the globe, including exports to the US of almost $1 billion per year.
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According to Avalon 2017's Executive Manager of Industry Development, Greg Ferguson, international organisations will use events like the 2017 Avalon Airshow to target Australian businesses, technology and manufacturing.
"Obviously in the defence sector we've got all of the northern hemisphere primes, and they're chasing a very large Australian spend on aerospace and defence equipment," Ferguson told Defence Connect.
"On the civil side, Australia is also a surprisingly big manufacturer and exporter of aerospace components. Now, you may not be aware that our second largest export to the United States is aerospace componentry. That's worth $991 million a year. That's second only to beef.
"That's more than wine. We export nearly a billion dollars worth of aerospace components to the US, which is ultra competitive. That's in defence as well as civil.
"There's actually two huge markets; one defence, one civil. One of my jobs at Avalon is to try and remind people that we're not just a defence show.
"Yes, there's grey and camouflaged aircraft that make a lot of noise [and] look really sexy in the air. There's a lot of airlines, a lot of general aviation, a lot of business aircraft, a lot of helicopters down there as well. They are there to attract a very big and very separate market sector as well."
The 2017 Avalon airshow runs from 28 February - 5 March. The Defence Connect Podcast will be recording live from the exhibition centre.
Listen to the full interview with Greg Ferguson here.
