March 13 to 15 sees the staging of the inaugural Latin American Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition (LABACE) in São Paulo, Brazil. The new annual event is being organized jointly by the Brazilian Business Aviation Association (ABAG) and NBAA.
LABACE follows much of the format of both the long-established NBAA show and the European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition, with some concessions to local business practice, such as keeping the event open until 8 p.m. Running in parallel with the exhibition will be informational sessions and manufacturer maintenance and operations meetings.
This first edition of LABACE has garnered the support of just about all the world’s leading business aircraft makers, including Bombardier, Cessna, Dassault Falcon Jet, Embraer, Gulfstream, Ibis Aerospace, Pilatus and Raytheon. However, at press time LABACE organizers had conspicuously failed to meet their target of 300 exhibit spaces, with about 70 booths booked for Hall C of São Paulo’s Transamerica Expo Center.
There will also be a static display at São Paulo Congonhas Airport, and most manufacturers are planning to show aircraft there. The site will be linked to the exhibition center by shuttle bus and the ride takes 20 minutes, according to organizers.
In addition to the airframers, the LABACE exhibitor list also includes engine and avionics suppliers such as Honeywell, CMC Electronics, Garmin, Pratt & Whitney Canada, Rockwell Collins and Universal Avionics. Also committed to date are flight-planning groups Baseops International and Jeppesen Sanderson, as well as leading Brazilian executive charter, maintenance and handling firms such as Morro Vermelho Taxi Aereo and Taxi Aereo Marilia.
LABACE’s scheduled program of information sessions covers safety and security initiatives; helicopter operations; CNS/ATM technology, airport and airspace access; business aircraft ownership options; the future of fractional ownership in Latin America; and Brazilian regulatory issues. Maintenance and operations meetings are to be held during the afternoon of March 14 by Bombardier, Cessna, Dassault Falcon Jet and Raytheon.
On-site registration for the show begins at 9 a.m. on March 12. LABACE will reach a climax on the evening of March 15 with an awards reception and banquet at the Hotel Transamerica.
The majority of attendees for this first LABACE event are expected to be Brazilian business aviation professionals. However, in the longer term, one of the show’s goals is to raise the profile and level of organization for business aviation throughout Latin America. ABAG and NBAA have not ruled out moving the event to other Latin American countries.
With some fluctuation in the interim, the Latin American business jet fleet has not increased significantly over the past decade and currently numbers less than 900. Mexico and Brazil have continued to be the dominant business aviation hubs in Latin America, with other countries showing a much lower level of activity. However, most manufacturers have told AIN that they still see great potential for growth throughout this huge region.
AIN will be publishing a special LABACE supplement for distribution at the show in São Paulo. This will be followed by further coverage of the event in next month’s issue.
For further information about LABACE, visit www.labace.org.
