I am pleased to be in a position to close our calendar year with the good news that the 52nd Coupe Aéronautique Gordon Bennett in 2008 will take place in Albuquerque (USA). The CIA Bureau has decided to accept the bid from the US, to grant a sanction to the organizers, and recommend the ratification of this decision to the 2008 CIA Plenary meeting. The event details will be published on the CIA web pages.
In addition, I am pleased to announce that five NAC have declared that they will bid for the organization of the 53rd Coupe Aéronautique Gordon Bennett in 2009, namely
• Germany
• Luxembourg
• Switzerland
• UK
• USA
The respective bids are now being actively prepared and must be submitted to the CIA at the latest on February 15, 2008. The bid details will then be published on our web-site and you may study them and consult with your ballooning community before deciding on the 2009 organizer at the Plenary in Salzburg. We will invite the five concerned delegates to prepare a short presentation for the Plenary as well.
I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a happy and successful New Year.
Buoyant regards,
JC Weber, president
FAI Ballooning Commission