As Deputy Chairman of the British Aviation Group (BAG) I had the privilege of chairing the New Members Welcome Day last week and once again I was enormously impressed by the breadth of skills we have in the aviation supply chain in the UK – it is really no surprise how successful the industry is at selling itself across the world!

The  purpose of the day was to introduce new members to BAG and to help them get the best out of the opportunities membership brings, the access to information on potential business opportunities, events and missions centred around key markets, a rich feed of news and, certainly for me the most important aspect of membership, a rich and varied network of individuals and companies to build their network around. As part of the day new members were invited to set out their businesses in a five minute pitch and we had around a dozen fascinating presentations from businesses offering roofing and cladding systems, video analytics and security systems, water treatment and engineering, air curtains for terminal entry points, aids for air traffic control, and from a range of consulting organisations.

What was particularly encouraging was the number of companies from across the supply chain in addition to consulting which is a long standing strength of BAG. What was reinforced by those present was that the extraordinary success of the UK consultants in winning masterplanning and terminal design work places the rest of the supply chain in an advantageous position relative to their international competitors. We are putting significant effort to try and leverage that benefit by dramatically improving the flow of information from those firms engaged early in the process to our members whose main focus comes later so that they can start to build the contacts and relationships with the key decision makers well in advance of any tender process. Experienced voices from around the room confirmed that when the tender comes out is far too late to start on this important activity.

After the presentations we held an informal networking session over a glass of wine and, armed with the knowledge gained from the afternoon session, people were well on their way to increasing their network of like-minded professionals and getting immediate benefit from their new membership. It was a good worthwhile afternoon!

Mike Forster – Deputy Chairman – British Aviation Group