Tough decisions to be made in European bizav ecosystem

EBAA is not suffering from a lack of intelligence or good intentions. It is suffering from a lack of relevance. If EBAA does not change, the European business aviation ecosystem will fracture, decentralize, and rebuild itself without EBAA. This is not a threat. It is the natural behavior of an ecosystem when its central node fails. What happens if EBAA does not change is an ecological inevitability. It is not hypothetical. It’s time to wake up.

In a southern European country not to be mentioned by name, one would sing: “Lazy Mary, get up and out of bed, we need the bed sheets for the table.”

EBAA was built for a 1990s industry — small, elite, operator‑centric. One cannot run a 2026 industry with a 1996 structure.  Business aviation today is an ecology of operators, airports, OEMs, energy, finance, innovation. Yet, EBAA still behaved like a club. Being in Brussels is not the same as being influential in Brussels. 

The world has moved on, and the business environment changed in every way, yet the association has not enough accordingly. One cannot defend an industry with a structure designed for a smaller, slower, simpler age. One cannot navigate a storm with a map drawn in fair weather. The market has changed. The future has changed. This is not criticism. It is a diagnosis. And diagnoses are only useful if they lead to treatment.

A European business aviation association should be structured like a living ecology, not a bureaucracy. Instead, it should be an organism with organs, circulation, and sensory systems that reflect the realities of members and industry stakeholders. It is pure strategic logic that if EBAA does not reform, the ecosystem may replace the center.

An appropriate path to produce a unified, modern, future‑ready ecosystem may be reform by an industry‑led coalition. They have the most to gain, have the most to lose, and have the power to act. A coalition of operators, airports, OEMs, financiers, and innovators can form the new center of gravity. 

Not to divide but to re-unite. Coalitions are not built to fight the past. They are built to build the future.

The industry can build the structure it deserves. Not the one it inherited. The industry can lead the change, but the architecture, momentum, and legitimacy will still have to come from the ecosystem itself. This is how ecosystems survive.

To be unequivocal, in an industry the ones who pay the bills must lead, not the caretakers. Power belongs to those who create value. Influence belongs to those who spend money. It may sound undemocratic, but business is different. The leaders that one would call upon are the Operators because they feel the pain first. The OEMs & Innovators as they own the future. Financiers & Energy Providers as they decide what gets built. Airports & FBOs as they control the infrastructure. That may be the coalition to be trusted to make the needed changes to lead the next decade of European aviation. 

The strategic truth with no varnish is that the industry must lead the change, not the association. The association can support the shift, but it cannot drive it. The industry has the economic gravity; the association does not. The reasons are structural and ecological. 

EBAA could be invited to join the coalition as an associate member. The aim is not to overthrow but to rebuild. Not to criticize but to modernize. If an association cannot rise to the moment, the moment will rise without it. If it cannot lead, then one will be built that can. It may not like who does the changing but if a structure is outdated and cannot deliver, then the structure shall be changed and that someone else builds a better one. And if a message cannot persuade, then the messenger shall be changed. If EBAA reforms, it can become part of the new ecosystem. If EBAA resists, the ecosystem moves on without it.

Worst case scenario if EBAA refuses to voluntarily restructure, then a coalition might found a new organization. Not as an act of rebellion, but as an act of ecosystem self‑preservation and strategic continuity. The core principle is that when a central node (EBAA) stops performing as expected or needed, the ecosystem has only two options: reform the node, or replace the node. If the first is impossible, the second becomes inevitable. This is not politics; it is structures principle. A coalition forming a new organization is simply the ecosystem rebuilding its new center of gravity.

If a revolution is looming, it will come from the people with something to lose and something to gain. Not the people with something to protect.