EXPO ended on Sunday, January 22 with record-breaking numbers.

Stated Bert Simpson, FAA Staff Manager, North Florida District, “There were a total of 3,434 flight operations during the four-day event with Saturday being the biggest at 1,256. The busiest hours were Saturday from 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM with 222 flight operations taking place at that time, making Sebring Regional Airport (SRA) the busiest airport in the country.

Expo recorded a total of 156 exhibitors with 149 aircraft on display. Sebring Regional Airport Executive Director, Mike Willingham stated, “There were approximately 16,000 attendees. We are ecstatic with these preliminary results.” The show saw huge numbers of visitors on Friday and Saturday, and exhibitors were very pleased. Ticket sales were approximately 15% over last year’s numbers.

“The success of Expo was a culmination of great weather, increased marketing, and the addition of new events,” stated Jana Filip, EXPO Director. This year saw the addition of an AvBid Aircraft Auction, model airplane contest, food and wine pairing events, a seaplane base and Splash-In at Lake Jackson and more.

The AvBid Auction was a huge success. “Usually we sell 20%, but at Expo we sold a third of our auction inventory,” said Sam Sirani, with AvBid. The auction took place on Saturday with live bidding and live video streaming for bidders who were unable to attend the auction in person. An auction highlight: John “Lites” Leenhouts, President of Sun ‘n Fun outbid all for the Garmin AERA GPS 796 Americas XM (donated by Garmin) with all proceeds going to the local EAA Young Eagles Chapter. To read the rest of our event recap, click here.

The benefit wine and food pairing events were extremely well received and Expo will be cutting checks to both the local EAA Young Eagles Chapter 1240 and the Humane Society of Highlands County as a result of their success plus the support of Alan Jay and a host of other sponsors. igourmet participated in a cheese and wine tasting event as well as offering cheese for sampling at one of the indoor booths. The exotic igourmet cheeses were completely sold out by Saturday afternoon. Guests of Expo were offered a discount to buy from igourmet.

Craig Fuller, President of AOPA and Rod Hightower, President of EAA both gave speeches this year which drew standing room only crowds for each event.

Exhibitors had great things to say about this year’s Expo

Said Roger Dubbert, with Zenith,“We will sell 6-10 planes just from the show!”

Rob Rollison of Aerotrek Aircraft said, “Sold two planes…Combination of upsurge in LSA market, and good weather. We’ve been doing this show for 8 years.”

Hansen Air Group’s Mike Hansen had this to say, “Just about everyone that walked in stopped by the Comet. We gave three press demo rides and four interviews with the press.”

Don Ayers, Founder and CEO of US Sport Aircraft was enthusiastic when he said, “We did very well at the show. I like working with Expo more than any other show…it’s important to keep the venders happy—Expo does this.”

Randy Schlitter, President of Rans remarked, “The show is one of my favorite shows. It’s productive with good traffic. We always know we’ll make sales because of the show.”

Sponsors for the 2012 Expo included Highlands Today, Sebring Regional Airport, Trade-A-Plane, Southeast Aviation Show, Plane & Pilot Magazine, Vacations of Sebring—Majestic Cove, Aviators Hot Line, Powered Sport Flying Magazine, Women in Aviation International, Cessna Owner & Pipers Magazines, Coffee News of FLA, Lake Placid Holiday Inn Express, Holiday Inn Express & Suites-Sebring, Inn on The Lakes, Progress Energy, AVweb, Atkins, Aviation Digest, Girls with Wings, CubCrafters, Aviation Digest, Avbuyer.com and GA Buyer Europe, Matco Mfg, Remos, Kenilworth Lodge, Chateau Élan, Sebring International Raceway, EAA, Air Orlando Sales, Aircraft Spruce & Specialty Company, FATA, US Sport Aircraft & Czech Sport Aircraft, Garmin, Flight Life, Aeroshell, Enterprise, Renegade, EDC, Flight Design USA, ByDanJohnson.com,  Atlanta National Golf Club, Sip Wine & Tapas, igourmet, Chalet Suzanne, Republic National Distributing Company, Event Makers, Alan Jay, Domaine Napa Wine Company, Bob Tullius, Diamond Aircraft, SeaMax America, and presenting sponsor Zenith Aircraft Company.