Business Aviation in Items with a Value of Approximately $7 Million
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N O S I R R A H . J Y B R I K BUSINESSgathers AVIATION momentum inLatin America OEMs predict strong future demand by Kirby J. Harrison efore the naysayers look askance at busi- according to association president Rui Thomaz de Challenger 605 in November and its first Learjet ness aviation in Latin America and sug- Aquino, the value of orders taken at this year’s show 60XR next September. As the exclusive representa- gest that recent years of growth were approached $200 million, $50 million more than the tive in Brazil for Bombardier, Ocean Air has also re- something of an anomaly, they might organization had forecast. cently sold two Global Express XRSes to Brazilian consider the recent Latin American Busi- At the show Dassault reported the sale of a Falcon mining giant Companhia Vale do Rio Doce. Bness Aviation Conference & Exhibition in São 2000LX, OceanAir took orders for a Global 5000 Brandão added that Bombardier has opened a new Paulo, Brazil, a show that can be described only as and two Learjet 60XRs on behalf of Bombardier, parts depot in São Paulo and for the past year has a resounding success. Embraer sold a Legacy 600, and Táxí Aéreo Marilia been stockpiling aircraft parts for the facility. The When LABACE was cancelled last year, some (TAM) found homes for three Citations, one of them 3,000-sq-ft depot will hold approximately 2,300 indi- pronounced the show dead and suggested that busi- the first Brazilian order for the new Mustang. vidual high-demand parts totaling more than 75,000 ness aviation growth in Latin America was anemic at As for any suggestion that business aviation in items with a value of approximately $7 million. best. They were wrong on both counts. Latin America is less than robust, José Eduardo Ocean Air, it was announced in August, is now an This year, LABACE drew 6,041 attendees, Brandão, commercial director of Ocean Air Táxi authorized service center for all Bombardier busi- nearly 1,000 more than the 2005 show. The 71 ex- Aéro of São Paulo, could not disagree more. “The ness jets, and by November will have expanded its hibitors and 35 aircraft on static display were also market in Brazil is incredibly hot,” he told AIN at maintenance and service capabilities to include all record numbers. The show was organized this year LABACE. Noting that there is a fleet of about 350 Challengers and Globals. by the Associação Brasileira de Aviação Geral Bombardier aircraft in Latin America, he said Ocean According to Brandão, Brazil is not the only (ABAG), with minimal support from NBAA. And Air’s charter operation expects to receive its first Latin American country in which business aviation 42aaAviation International News • October 2007 • www.ainonline.com is showing definite signs of activity. He said the the region, with “similar market forces in play that economies of Argentina and Colombia, in particular, we’ve seen in Asia, in particular the need to create Astrum Takes a Ride are “improving rapidly.” With business on the up- your own travel schedule.” on Belize Tourism swing, TAM has plans to become an authorized Todd Duhnke, Cessna director of international maintenance center for Bell Helicopter next year at sales, described Brazil as the current giant in the Aiming to benefit from a growing tourism mar- the company’s service facility in Jundiai. Latin American market, but also noted, “Chile has a ket that brings more than one million visitors a In addition to leading ABAG, Aquino serves as vibrant economy [and] we just took an order from year to Belize, Astrum Helicopters has taken deliv- president of TAM, one of the largest aviation serv- Argentina for a Citation.” ery of a Bell 206L-4 LongRanger to supplement its ices providers in Latin America. Aquino echoed Duhnke said the Citation Sovereign is getting a fleet of Bell 206s. Brandão’s optimism. TAM is building a $7 million, lot of interest from the Latin American market, not- To be used for charter flights, the new helicop- 100,000-sq-ft hangar at São Paulo’s Congonhas In- ing that with its 2,881-nm range, the Sovereign can ter has an executive, six-passenger configuration ternational Airport. The facility will include a new fly nonstop from a central point to almost any desti- and sliding passenger cabin door. The interior com- FBO and expects to have a new maintenance center nation in the region. pletion work required eight months. ready in Jundiai, Brazil. On display at LABACE was Cessna’s new Cita- Astrum Helicopters, the only charter and air-taxi In the week preceding LABACE, Aquino said tion Mustang. The airplane got a lot of visitors, said service in the country, offers transportation from TAM placed orders with Cessna for 10 Citation Duhnke, and two have already been delivered in Philip Goldson International in Belize City on the Mustangs, a Citation CJ3, a Citation XL and five Central America. coast to local heliports at Cisco Base and Old Caravans. The company expects to take delivery of Anticipating an aircraft production rate by 2009 Belize. Charter flights for tourism, corporate and three CJ2s and a Citation X by the end of the year. that will double 2005’s 60-aircraft-a-year pace, Das- scientific purposes are also scheduled to various The reason is clear. “We almost doubled our char- sault Falcon expects to deliver 20 new Falcons in destinations such as the Great Blue Hole, Glover’s ter hours from 2005 to 2006 and now we’re averag- Brazil by 2012, adding to the fleet of 15 Falcons al- Reef and 1,000-foot Falls. Clients are for the most ing 50 hours a month per aircraft,” he said. ready in service there. And according to company part foreign executives and families, usually from The Citation Mustangs, said Aquino, are ex- president and CEO John Rosanvallon, “a significant North America. pected to go into the company’s air-taxi service, number of [the new airplanes] will be Falcon 7Xs.” “What we here at Astrum Helicopters offer that “perfect,” he said, for carrying four or five passen- The new 7X, he pointed out, is a nonstop link be- is different from other charter services in the world gers on routes of about 500 nm. tween Brazil and “just about any major center of is Mother Nature’s best-kept secret–Belize,” said an trade in the world.” Aircraft Manufacturers Set The first Falcon 7X in Latin America will be de- Astrum spokesman. Sights on a Target-rich Market livered to a Brazilian customer shortly after Brazil- The tourism industry is an important economic Bombardier apparently sees Latin America as a tar- ian authorities certify the new trijet later this year. pillar of the country. In March the airport received a get-rich environment for its wares. The company had a If Latin America can claim a single homegrown record 25,000 visitors. Considering the continuing Challenger 605, Challenger 300 and Learjet 45XR on representative of business aviation, it is Brazilian growth in tourism, Astrum Helicopters forecasts static display at the show. “Bombardier is strengthen- manufacturer Embraer. correspondingly greater demand for helicopter ing its position in the Latin American market,” said In some ways, the São Jose dos Campos-based charter. The company also expects expanded use of Fábio Rebello, regional v-p of sales for Latin America. company has come lately to the business of business helicopters in geological exploration, search-and- There are 320 Bombardier aircraft in the Latin aviation, introducing the Legacy 600 in 2000 as an rescue and cargo transport. –Teresa Cepinho American fleet, according to Rebello. That equates executive variant of its ERJ 135 regional airliner. to a 26-percent market share. He described last year Earlier this year, Embraer marked delivery of the as “our best [year] ever in Latin America.” Bom- 100th Legacy 600 and celebrated the first flight of bardier expects to make its first delivery of the $27 the Phenom 100 very light jet. The company expects million Challenger 605 in Brazil by year-end. the Phenom 300 light jet to fly next spring. In addi- Rebello said in the past year or two, the company tion, it introduced the Lineage 1000, an executive has seen increased demand for aircraft with longer variant of its E190 airliner, now has 10 on order, and range, such as the 605 and the Global line. “These plans to deliver the first next summer. The company transactions are driven by economic development has a combined total order book for 500 Phenom and globalization,” he explained, adding, “We antici- 100s and Phenom 300s. pate the trend will continue.” “We have six Legacy 600s in service in Brazil now Cessna, which dominates the light and midsize jet and will have eight by the end of this year and 10 market in Latin America, sees “a bright future” in before the end of next year,” said Luis Carlos Affonso, executive v-p of Embraer Executive Aviation. Dassault brought a Falcon 2000EX EASy to the static display at LABACE. The company plans to deliver 20 Over the next decade, he said, there is an esti- Falcons in Brazil by 2012. mated market in Latin America for 680 executive jets worth about $5.9 billion. By next year, Affonso expects Embraer to have gained a 15-percent share of that market. The value of firm orders jumped from $600 million in 2005 to $2 billion in 2006. Embraer took advantage of the LABACE show to make the first public introduction of its Phenom 100, rolling it onto the static display line on the second day of the show.