Who pays to be seen: the companies sponsoring aviation trade shows in 2026 and 2027
Boeing is on the sponsor lists of 30 aviation shows between October 2026 and December 2027, Airbus 28. Who sponsors, at what level, and which shows draw the most sponsors.
Radu BalasEdited by Adrian ManPublished 7 min read
About one aviation show in six with a published sponsor list has Boeing's name on it. The planemaker is on the sponsor lists of 30 shows on our calendar between October 2026 and December 2027, more than any other company. Airbus is close behind on 28. After that the list falls away quickly: Embraer 16, GE Aerospace and Lockheed Martin 13 each.
The company that sponsors the most shows is not the one that goes biggest. Lufthansa Technik backs only 10 shows, but takes the organiser's top tier at seven of them, platinum at four. Boeing is top tier at 6 of its 30. And behind the famous logos sits a long tail: 2,161 companies on 180 published sponsor lists, and 78% of them back a single show.
What we found, in short:
- Only eight companies sponsor ten or more aviation shows. The top 10 together hold under 5% of all sponsorships.
- World Aviation Festival in Lisbon has the longest list, 140 sponsors. Corporate Jet Investor Miami has the most top tier names for its size: 21 of 48.
- Fewer than half of sponsors (45%) also take a stand at the same show.
- 54 law firms sponsor aviation events, mostly finance and leasing conferences.
- The United States hosts 48% of all sponsorships.
This is a companion to our ranking of the aviation companies at the most trade shows, which counted exhibitors and sponsors together. This one looks only at sponsors: who they are, at what level, and which shows attract the most of them.
The 25 companies that sponsor the most aviation shows
Shows sponsored: shows on the calendar where the company is on the sponsor list, with different shows in brackets where editions repeat. Top tier: how many are at the organiser's highest level. Also exhibits: shows where it is also on the exhibitor list.
Also on seven lists: ADB Safegate, Airlink and KBR. On six: AerCap, Engine Lease Finance, Amadeus, AerFin, CFM International, IBM, Kratos, L3Harris and Textron Aviation.
What the data shows
Most sponsors back one show
1,675 of the 2,161 companies (78%) sponsor exactly one show on the calendar. 486 sponsor two or more, 180 three or more, 57 five or more, and only eight sponsor ten or more. The top 10 together hold 148 of the 3,126 sponsorships, under 5%. Sponsorship is spread across many companies that each pick the one or two shows that matter to them.
Levels, where organisers publish them
145 of the 180 lists name a level for at least some sponsors, and 2,583 of the 3,126 sponsorships carry one. Grouped: 312 are top tier, 430 gold, 291 silver, 170 bronze, 334 partners or supporting organisations, and 612 are named items or sessions, from refreshment breaks to opening receptions. The other 977 are listed as a sponsor with no level.
The company with the most top tier sponsorships is not the one with the most sponsorships. Lufthansa Technik is top tier at 7 of its 10 shows, nearly all maintenance events: platinum at four, premium at two, host at one. StandardAero is top tier at 6 of 9, platinum at five of them. Boeing is top tier at 6 of its 30 shows and gold or silver at another five, with the rest spread across partner, supporter and named sponsorships. Airbus is silver at nine shows, more than at any other level. CAE is diamond sponsor at three of its ten.
The shows with the most sponsors
The median show with a published list has 10 sponsors. 56 lists have five or fewer, 38 have six to ten, 39 have 11 to 20, 33 have 21 to 50 and 14 have more than 50. The largest lists:
- World Aviation Festival, Lisbon, October 2026: 140 sponsors, 11 of them top tier
- Small Satellite Conference, Salt Lake City, August 2027: 98 (2026 list)
- MRO Americas, Orlando, April 2027: 97, 13 top tier
- Dubai Airshow, November 2027: 90 (2025 list)
- Ishka Airfinance Investival: North America, New York, October 2026: 79
- SUN 'n FUN Aerospace Expo, Lakeland, April 2027: 66 (2026 list)
- Airline Economics Growth Frontiers New York, October 2026: 63
- AMOS Conference, Maui, September 2027: 61 (2026 list)
- MRO Europe, Amsterdam, October 2026: 55, 12 top tier (and 55 for the 2027 edition)
- NATO Days in Ostrava, September 2027: 55 (2026 list)
Corporate Jet Investor Miami has 48 sponsors, 21 of them top tier, the highest share of any large list.
Conferences carry most of the sponsorship: 111 of the 180 lists are for conferences and they hold 1,824 of the 3,126 sponsorships. Expos hold 886 across 44 lists, airshows 316 across 12. The two New York finance conferences above have 142 sponsors between them and no exhibitor list, because sponsorship is how companies take part.
By sector and country
By the sector of the show, airline and airport events have the most sponsorships (708 across 44 lists), then space (444 across 17), MRO and aftermarket (400 across 17), airshows (285 across 12), finance and leasing (278 across 13), business aviation (220 across 18) and defence (189 across 9).
The United States hosts 63 of the 180 shows with a list and 1,509 of the sponsorships, 48% of the total. Canada follows with 162 sponsorships across eight shows, Portugal 155 (two shows, mostly World Aviation Festival), the Netherlands 155 (MRO Europe twice), the United Kingdom 154 across 11 shows and the United Arab Emirates 144 across nine.
By where the sponsor is based, US companies hold 54% of sponsorships. The United Kingdom has 64 sponsoring companies (121 sponsorships), France 45 (110), Canada 41 (84), Germany 45 (69) and Ireland 22 (58, led by lessors).
By type of company, makers of parts, systems and equipment are the largest group (191 companies, 268 sponsorships), then aircraft manufacturers (49 companies, 214 sponsorships, the most per company), maintenance providers (102, 176), software companies (104, 155) and finance firms (93, 154). Law firms sponsor more than you might expect: 54 of them, with 72 sponsorships, mostly at finance, leasing and airline conferences.
Sponsor and exhibit, or sponsor only
80 shows publish both a sponsor list and an exhibitor list. At those shows, 730 of the 1,632 sponsors (45%) also have a stand. The companies that most often do both are maintenance and parts businesses: Lufthansa Technik exhibits at 8 of its 10 sponsored shows, StandardAero at 7 of 9, AvAir and Setna iO at 5 each, and SR Technics and ST Engineering at all five of theirs. Boeing exhibits at 7 of its 30.
71 companies sponsor three or more shows without appearing on any exhibitor list, led by Honeywell Aerospace (9 shows), Collins Aerospace (8), Rolls-Royce (8), Viasat (7), Thales (5) and Avolon (5). Many of their shows are conferences with no exhibition floor, so this says more about the events they choose than about a decision not to exhibit.
Source: the sponsor and partner lists on the Flying Engineer aviation events calendar and the company data we hold, for shows from October 2026 to December 2027. A company listed twice at the same show counts once; media partners are not included.
How to use this
- If you are choosing shows to sponsor, the lists above show where your peers and competitors already are, and at what level. Each event page on the aviation events calendar links to the organiser's own sponsor and exhibitor information.
- If you organise a show, publishing your sponsor list with levels is what gets a show into counts like this one. Our page for organisers explains how to list or update an event on the calendar.
- If you work for a company named here, each name links to its page on Flying Engineer, built from public information. Check that it is correct and claim it so you can keep it up to date.
About the author
Radu Balas
Founder, Flying Engineer
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