ALL PHOTOS: VAI/F-STOP PHOTOGRAPHY


HAI HELI-EXPO 2024 Heralding a New Era


By Jen Boyer WATCH


the 2024 HAI HELI-EXPO Fly-In


T 34 ROTOR JUNE 2024


HE NUMBERS CONFIRM IT: HAI HELI-EXPO 2024 was an astounding success. A record-break- ing 15,000 attendees from 87 countries walked the halls of the Anaheim Convention Center in California in February, up from more than


12,400 last year. News of the show’s attendance levels was eclipsed only by the major announcement of the event: the unveiling of the association’s new identity, along with the new name of its annual conference and trade show. At the Welcome Reception and Rebrand Reveal on Feb.


26, HAI Chair Nicole Battjes revealed that the organization would henceforth be known as Vertical Aviation International,


or VAI. Designed to represent the association’s support of the entire vertical aviation community, the rebranding included renaming HAI HELI-EXPO, the world’s largest vertical aviation trade show, as VERTICON. Overnight, new VAI branding went up throughout the


convention center and VAI-branded shirts, name tags, publications, and swag were pulled out for the first day of exhibits on Feb. 27. “Tis year’s show was historic because of three things:


celebrating our 75th anniversary; being back in California, where our organization was founded in 1948; and unveiling our new branding,” says VAI President and CEO James


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