ABAG is distributing the third edition of its Brazilian Yearbook of General Aviation here at LABACE 2013. Director general Ricardo Nogueira reviewed the latest business aviation fleet figures: By the end of 2012, the fleet totaled 13,965 registered aircraft with a value of $13.4 billion, he said, adding that the country has the second largest GA fleet in the world after the U.S. The 2011-2012 growth rate was 6.7 percent, with long-range jets and helicopters representing the biggest growth areas (at 16 and 14 percent, respectively).

Of this total, 84 percent are recorded as being for private aviation use, although some 75 percent are “conventional” GA aircraft–pistons as opposed to jets or turboprops, or helicopters, and with an average age of 30 years. The overall fleet has gotten younger and there has been a shift toward “corporate aviation,” said Nogueira.

One figure that stood out was a 12-percent drop in flights classified as air taxi operations, whereas there has been an overall uptick of 10 percent in private flights. Nogueira stated that ABAG is still analyzing the figures, although association chairman Eduardo Marson admitted that the level of bureaucracy and, in particular, delays could be a factor.

Nogueira said that the biggest growth area was flight instruction (up 28 percent), representing a huge turnaround from a few years ago when the future was looking bleak for aviation, with a looming lack of skilled workers.