Business aviation is growing fast in Brazil, and the Associação Brasileira de Aviação (ABAG) believes its Latin American Business Aviation Conference & Exhibition (LABACE) this past August in São Paulo is ample proof.

Total attendance at the show this year was a record 16,722, a healthy jump from 15,429 visitors in 2011, despite an increase in the admission price. There were also 190 exhibitors and 70 aircraft on display. And ABAG chairman Eduardo Marson took note of aircraft sales announced during the LABACE show this year that included six helicopters sold by Helibras and two business jets by Tam Aviação Executiva, one of them a Citation Mustang.

Perhaps more to the point was a comment at the opening general session by Minister of Civil Aviation Wagner Bittencourt, who said a decree to permit the private construction and commercial operation of badly needed business aviation airports is “in the final stages of consideration.” Welcome news indeed with Brazil as host of the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympic Games.

ABAG chairman Eduardo Marson believes that by 2014 ABAG (Booth No. 3230) may see LABACE expand even further at a new business aviation airport.

Looking forward from its stage at NBAA, ABAG is promoting LABACE 2013, scheduled for August 14 to 16, again in São Paulo.