A record 71 aircraft are expected for LABACE 2012 at São Paulo Congonhas Airport next week (August 15 to 17), but unlike last year those coming from overseas will have to stop elsewhere to clear customs, coming and going.

“Last year Guarulhos International Airport was being repaved and couldn’t handle the additional traffic. Also, customs decided to temporarily use a new, simplified procedure for bringing in the airplanes,” Ricardo Nogueira, director general of Brazil business aviation association ABAG, which organizes LABACE, told AIN. “ABAG met with customs, which set up a task force at its regional office on Avenida Celso Garcia to centralize LABACE paperwork, and a temporary customs post at Congonhas so airplanes could fly in directly.”

The expedited customs procedures are no longer and the temporary customs post ended when the runway at Guarulhos became fully operational, and no special provisions for Congonhas were arranged for this year’s show. ABAG is advising that exhibitors use a local customs broker to ease the process. “Aircraft coming into Brazil for LABACE can also clear customs at several other airports besides Guarulhos,” said Nogueira, citing airports that, unlike Congonhas, are international and have customs services: Boa Vista in the Amazon; Recife in Pernambuco; Confins in Minas Gerais; and privately run Cabo Frio Airport on the coast east of Rio.