New research from Revolution.Aero amongst private equity and venture capital professionals reveals that 69 per cent expect the amount of money their industries invest in the aviation sector to increase between now and the end of 2020, and just 4 per cent expect it to fall.
The corresponding figures for the next five years are 73 per cent and 12 per cent respectively.
The aviation sector is currently a hotbed of innovation with on-going projects looking at electric aviation, air taxis to supersonic jets, all topics that will be discussed at Revolution. Aero’s first European meeting which takes place in London on 11-12 March 2019 at The Royal Garden Hotel.
In terms of which new aviation areas private equity and venture capital professionals find most exciting, 85 per cent described vertical take-off and landing aircraft (VTOL) such as air taxis as attractive, which is closely followed by 84 per cent who say this about the use of drones in the freight industry. Electric planes, pilotless aircraft and supersonic jets are also seen as potential attractive investment opportunities.
As for the factors that make aviation appealing to professional investors, 54 per cent of private equity and venture capitalists said the growing need to find ways to reduce costs and emissions within the freight industry is ‘very important’, and this was followed by 46 per cent who said this about the need to find cleaner ways of traveling, and 38 per cent who said this about the growing number of people who want to fly.
Alasdair Whyte, co-founder, Revolution.Aerom, says: “Our research shows that professional investors are well aware of the huge developments taking place in aviation at the moment, and the growing list of exciting projects that hope to revolutionise all aspects of the industry.
“We will have a number of private equity and venture capital professionals attending our conference, with a potential eye on investing in some of the 200 plus senior executives of the disruptive aviation companies we are hosting at our London conference next month.”
