Corporate Jet Investor (CJI) brings its annual CJI Miami conference back to the Fontainebleau Miami Beach next week. Organizers expect more than 600 attendees from more than 300 companies, including OEMs, operators, brokers, financiers, and senior executives from North America and beyond, and they are billing the 2026 edition as the largest CJI Miami to date.
The main program runs from Monday morning through Wednesday afternoon. Panel discussions and presentations will cover business aircraft transactions, financing, tax policy, flight operations, and passenger experience, with artificial intelligence dominating the final morning. Optional side events include a golf outing, poker tournament, and dinner cruise. Topics and speakers are subject to change. CJI co-founder Alasdair Whyte will moderate many of the panels.
The event officially opens on Sunday with a Women in Business Aviation reception at 5:30 p.m., followed at 6:30 p.m. by an icebreaker reception hosted by West Star Aviation.
Monday: Market Outlook, Financing, and Global Trends
Monday’s program begins with “A 360-degree view of the market,” moderated by Sebastien Larue of Pratt & Whitney Canada. He will be joined by his colleague Michael Ellbogen, Rolland Vincent of Rolland Vincent Associates, and Olivier Knutti of 88K.
After that, Andrew Schmertz of Hopscotch Air and Donny Malinoff of FlightLine Technologies will discuss what makes an operator successful and how operators manage through market cycles.
Smaller-ticket financing is the subject at 12:30 p.m. in “Do the best deals come in small packages?” Michael Smith of Scope Aircraft Finance, Jim Blessing of Airfleet Capital, and Christopher Lee of 1st Source Bank will look at how operators without investment-grade credit can find capital.
In the early afternoon, Kristie Greco Johnson of NBAA, Glenn Hediger of Aviation Financial Consulting, and Chris Younger of HCH Legal will consider what the results of the recent U.S. midterm elections mean for business aviation, and discuss the outlook on bonus depreciation.
The next panel turns to Brazil, which CJI describes as business aviation’s second-biggest market. Moderator Denise Alonso of Southern Cross Aircraft will be joined by Nicole Cunha of Kincaid Mendes Vianna Advogados, Luiz Sandler of Jet Match, and Juliano Lefevre of Comexport to discuss what changes in Brazil on January 1 and how trading houses will remain involved in transactions.
Industry associations share the stage at 4:40 p.m. in “Acting local, thinking global.” Jens Hennig of GAMA, Jo Damato of NBAA, Juergen Wiese of EBAA, and Hector Huezo of NATA will identify the biggest threats to business aviation and explain how challenges in one region spread to others.
The last panel discussion on Monday is “Moving metal,” in which Phil Winters of Western Aircraft, Clay Healey of AIC Title Service, Stan Kuliavas of Levaero Aviation, and Doc Dwyer of Guardian Jet will debate who holds the leverage in today’s market and how the OEMs are performing.
Monday’s lineup also includes individual presentations by Oliver Möhl of Pilatus USA, Pari Parchi of Panorama Aero, and Nicole Kappos of Pratt & Whitney.
Tuesday: Flight Departments, Passengers, and Backlogs
Tuesday morning opens with the question, “Is this the golden age of business aviation?” Shawn Vick of AE Industrial Partners, Brent Monroe of Aero Ventures, and John King of Solairus Aviation will discuss the trends driving the industry and clouds that may be gathering on the horizon.
In the early afternoon, a panel will test whether reports of the corporate flight department’s demise have been exaggerated. Chad Patnode of Pfizer, David Hernandez of Vedder Price, and Paul Jebely of Sterlington will lay out the advantages of operating an in-house flight department, explain why the model is regaining favor, and compare it with aircraft management and hybrid arrangements.
Passengers are the focus of two afternoon sessions. At 2:40 p.m., Claudio D’Amico of Viasat and Stephanie Goetz of The Pink Jet will ask whether the industry truly knows what its passengers want. Later, “Longevity at 40,000 Feet” brings together Josh Lesnick of Magellan Jets and Stephanie Werner of Boeing Business Jets to address passenger expectations, managing circadian rhythms, and more.
The afternoon wraps up with a look at how billion-dollar order backlogs are shaping the market. Don Spieth of VanGas Aviation Analytics and George Ferguson of Bloomberg Intelligence will compare backlogs across manufacturers and examine their relationship with preowned aircraft values.
Tuesday’s agenda will also feature presentations by Richard Koe of WingX, Nicholas Correnti of Nicholas Air, Michael Amalfitano of Embraer, C.R. Sincock II of Avfuel, Kaye Gitibin of Go Rentals, Neil Book of JSSI, Kenny Dichter of Real SLX, Chris and James Leach of Air Charter Service, Nick Fazioli and Katya Brozyna of Jefferies, and Tony Lefebvre of Signature Aviation.
Wednesday: AI Takes the Stage
Artificial intelligence dominates Wednesday morning. Fernando Pineda of Nicholas Air, Jeff Reis of MyFlight Advisor, Daniel Harris of Ironbird Partners, and Matt Liotta of FlyExclusive will discuss where operators should start with AI and where the technology is already making a difference.
Dealmakers get their turn at 10:20 a.m. in “Selling and financing aircraft in the AI age.” Panelists Asad Rahman of Jetquity, Denise Wilson of The Jet Agent, Edward Gross of Vedder Price, Jay Mesinger of Mesinger Jet Sales, and Memo Montemayor of EMCJET will explore how brokers and financiers can put AI to work now and whether large language models could replace human advisors.
Financing returns just after noon with a panel on the rise of pre-delivery payment (PDP) financing. Mark Bearden of First American Equipment Finance, Maxime Gaudreau of Echo Aviation Leasing, Mike Christie of Global Jet Capital, and Jon Dahlfors of Eldridge will examine how long backlogs are encouraging borrowers, whether the OEM’s credit is the only one that matters, and what happens if the market turns.
An early afternoon session, “Dogs on a plane,” will feature Bark Air’s Ryan Rudolph (founder of consultancy Edgehill Group) and Chris Tasca of Fly Alliance discussing the economics of flying canine passengers, how much demand exists, and which companies lead the market.
Engines are the subject at 2:35 p.m., when Jason Schwartz of GE Aerospace and Venkataramanan Ramachandran of Rolls-Royce will discuss what manufacturers are working on now and the future of engine services. CJI’s Rob Hodgetts will moderate.
At 3:05 p.m., Gregg Fahrenbruch of Yingling Aviation, Brian Howell of West Star Aviation, and Bill Molloy of Bombardier will assess the shifting services landscape, including why support services matter so much to manufacturers and whether operators should outsource maintenance or keep it under their own control.
Later, Sean Lynch and Delray Dobbins of Engine Assurance Program, Christopher Lee of 1st Source Bank, and Jim Lewis of JetAviva will take up the question of when an aircraft becomes old.
The conference closes with a 4:45 p.m. discussion of “Where have all the aircraft gone?” Gary Anzalone of Equus Global Aviation, Christopher Ellis of Avpro, Dan Kilkeary of The Aviation Office, Matt Rosanvallon of Freestream Aircraft, and Jason Spoor of Aspen Aero Group will participate in a panel discussion about how to find aircraft, which types are softening, and how quickly the market is changing.
Wednesday’s additional presentations include those by Alan Walsh of Sentient Jet, Tolga Demirel of Goodwin, Shailon Ian of Vinci Aircraft Inspections/Eyes On, Per Marthinsson of Avinode, and Kevin Michaels and Richard Aboulafia of AeroDynamic Advisory.
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