ACPC Members

It is my pleasure and privilege to invite all of the “Aces of Aviation” to attend the 56^th annual Air Carriers Purchasing Conference held in fabulous Las Vegas at the magnificent Caesars Palace from August 18^th through the 21^st, 2012.  It is with my honor and excitement to work with Mr. Larry Mabry and Southwest Airlines as your 2012 Airline Chair! What a conference and what a venue!  The perfect place to network for all of us “Aces of Aviation”! 

Please let me introduce myself, I am Dennis Suedkamp, President of Triumph Instruments – Burbank, a division of the Triumph Group, Inc.  I have been involved with and served the ACPC for 17 of my 34 years with A. Biederman, Inc., now Triumph Instruments – Burbank.  It is a true privilege and honor to serve as your Supplier Chair for the conference that I regard as the BEST networking conference in the industry.  The ACPC has provided our company with numerous opportunities, both as a privately held small business and as a publicly held large corporation.  

As true “Aces of Aviation”, the Board of Directors and Airline Steering Committee has teamed together to provide an agenda that allows us all to maximize your dollar value from your registration ($800 for the FIFTH consecutive year) that provides networking opportunities through the Aviation Networking Forum, Airline Round Tables, Supplier Round Tables (formerly S3) and through a top flight entertainment package.  Saturday presents to our avid golfers a gorgeous course, Las Vegas Paiute Snow Mountain Golf Course.  Sunday is our “Aces of Aviation” themed night with the “Legends of Las Vegas” and Monday, for our Semi-Formal Banquet, we have Gordie Brown, a singer, impersonator and overall entertainer direct from the Vegas Strip followed by a fabulous Las Vegas based cover band, Yellow Brick Road (YBR). Value added doesn’t just end there!  We have a tremendous Southwest Airlines Keynote Speaker for Monday’s luncheon followed by an outstanding interactive luncheon speaker on Tuesday, Lt. Col. Rob “Waldo” Waldman, Your Wingman, showing all of us “How to Never Fly Solo”.  We will also have our second year of Continuing Education Units (CEU) classes for Sales and Marketing Professionals Certification, taught by Bill Agee. The courses have been reworked to be more user friendly, with handouts provided at the classes and on-line sessions to compliment and complete your certification process. Just remember to bring your note taking material!  The conference has sold out quickly in the last two years, so register early to ensure you don’t miss out! 

The charity for 2012, to help the ACPC Membership “Pay it Forward” is The Ronald McDonald house.  The ACPC staff will assist Southwest Airlines on site to facilitate their charity opportunities. 

The magnificent Caesars Palace in fabulous Las Vegas provides the ACPC with a hotel, rivaled by few, that offers great food, excellent guest rooms, self contained meeting areas directly under our room towers, six pools and all the entertainment you can handle for the Friday, Saturday and Tuesday afternoon free time.  This year the ACPC Board of Directors and the Airline Steering Committee are working diligently to drive home the importance for all airline personnel to remain on site during scheduled venue hours and to only go off-site when the free times are designated.  Suppliers ignoring this message can cause the airline attendees financial impact.  Let’s keep our “Fair and Level Playing Field” truly that! The proximity of the hotel rooms, in relationship to the meeting rooms, makes Caesars the best value in Las Vegas, as even a hotel next door to Caesars will still require thirty minutes of travel time to get to the meeting rooms! 

The ACPC in 2012 is still the BEST  Networking conference value for the dollar spent!  Where else can you have the prominent  in the industry with a “Fair and Level Playing Field”, no matter the size of your company, at our unchanged registration fee of $800 (again, not raised in FIVE years!) that includes all of the educational opportunities, networking opportunities, speakers, meals and entertainment?  Where else can you contact more customers in four days at one event than you can in one year? The special room rate is $199 single/double occupancy for Suppliers, also an excellent value!  

Check the website www.acpc.com often for up-to-date information about the conference.  If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me.  We would love to hear from you!  We look forward to seeing all of you “Aces of Aviation” this year at the ACPC!

Sincerely yours,

Dennis Suedkamp