AVIC Harbin representative JCranes’s Jorge Theodoro dos Santos has high hopes for the Y-12E and Y-12F utility twin-turboprops manufactured in China. He sees a Brazilian potential of 220 aircraft, split between passenger and cargo uses, and he is resolved to supply those markets. “It’s one thing sell an aircraft," he said. "It’s another to sell the aircraft, supply technical support, and to build it here.” AVIC, he says, has decided to invest here, “with an investment the size of the Chinese government.”

The Y-12E and Y-12F are different aircraft, he explained. Avionics have been upgraded, and the Y-12F provides a distinctly more comfortable passenger experience. “The Y-12E has the features of the Amazon,” he said, with the rough-airfield capability ideal for travel from Manaus or Porto Velho to smaller communities. “In the Southeast, where people may refuse to travel in a Caravan, the Y-12F is less utilitarian and more acceptable.” Its boxy body styling providing the capacity to hold three cargo containers needed for utility missions.

Santos sees the major difficulty in construction of a factory in Brazil as the choice of a location. “We don’t know where the fleet will be,” he said, but he favors a location from which the whole country can be reached.

Aviation is full of dreams, which often collide with realities. The JCranes name doesn’t reflect heraldic birds, but rather that Santos was the first to import Chinese construction cranes to Brazil, and thus the complications of importing and supporting complex equipment from the Far East will not be a surprise.