Charles Alcock is managing editor of the AIN Media Group, having rejoined the company in 2019. He has been an aviation journalist since 1986, and previously worked for AIN from 1990 to 2017, most recently as editor-in-chief. His main focus is on covering new aviation technology and business models, as well as international news.
Having been raised in the London area, Alcock studied at the University of Manchester in the UK and earned an honors degree in Politics and Modern History. He speaks English and French, and some German.

Managing Editor

Charles Alcock

Latin America has long been regarded as one of business aviation’s key emerging markets, and yet the past 12 months have seen the region deliver mixed fortunes for the industry. It was against this backdrop, and a critical Brazilian general election, that the 11th annual Latin American Business Aviation Conference &amp; Exhibition (LABACE) was staged at São Paulo’s Congonhas Airport last month.

 


As of press time, there was no confirmation as to whether Brazilian business aviation group ABAG had achieved its target of attracting 14,000 visitors to the three-day event (August 12-14), a tally that would put it on a par with Europe’s EBACE show. Several exhibiting companies that have a presence at both shows told AIN that the profile of visitors–in terms of buying power and seniority–is generally stronger at EBACE.

 


The total number of LABACE 2014 exhibitors, at 94, was down on the 2013 total of 180, although the number of aircraft on static display was unchanged at 69. Preparations for this year’s show were not helped by late confirmation (in May) that the Congonhas venue would be available or by lack of access to the site during the World Cup soccer tournament in June and July.

 


Exercising home-field advantage, Brazil’s Embraer Executive Jets was able to hail the eagerly awaited certification of its new Legacy 500 on the show’s opening day (see page 1). There is no denying that the mood of the second day was soured by <a href="http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/ainalerts/2014-08-14/brazilian-presidential-candidate-dies-bizjet-crash">the accident that killed Brazilian Socialist Party presidential candidate Eduardo Campos</a> and six other people when the Cessna Citation XLS+ in which they were flying crashed on approach to Guaruja military air base, near the city of Santos, some 40 miles from São Paulo.

 


Brazilian cabinet ministers Moreira Franco (civil aviation) and Vicentinho Alves (tourism) joined São Paulo mayor Fernando Haddad for the official opening of this year’s show. They heard ABAG leaders exhort the country’s political leadership to press ahead with the long promised, and slowly delivered, improvements to airport infrastructure.

 


“No other sector of aviation brought so many people to so many places,” said ABAG chairman Eduardo Marson, while pressing the case for more open access for his members. He referred to a GA pilot who asked rhetorically, “If Los Angeles, with 30 airports in the terminal area, can accommodate general aviation, why can’t Brazil?”

 


Boosting Product Support 

 


Plans to strengthen product support in Brazil were high on the agenda for several leading aircraft manufacturers. On the eve of the show, Gulfstream Aerospace officially opened its new maintenance facility at Bertram Luiz Leupolz Airport in Sorocaba, some 37 miles west of São Paulo. The 38,000-sq-ft facility is large enough to house four large-cabin and three mid-cabin aircraft simultaneously.

 


The building was formerly operated by Gulfstream’s General Dynamics sister company Jet Aviation. Gulfstream took full control of the facility in July. “We have received substantial positive feedback from customers about how much better our location is at Sorocaba airport,” said Mark Burns, president of Gulfstream Product Support, who oversaw the new development.

 


Dassault Falcon Jet confirmed plans to invest in a major expansion of its Sorocaba maintenance facility over the next few months “to better accommodate the demands of Brazilian and other South American customers.” The expansion of the Dassault Aircraft Services Sorocaba facility will add 10,000 sq ft of hangar space, significantly boosting the existing 23,000-sq-ft building and “reinforcing our ability to serve the anticipated demand,” said John Rosanvallon, president and CEO of Dassault Falcon Jet. “We have strong expectations for continued growth in Brazil and elsewhere in Latin America and expect the new facility to reinforce our ability to serve this anticipated demand.”

 


The French manufacturer’s Sorocaba service center is authorized to perform line maintenance and airframe inspections on all Falcons except the legacy Falcon 20 and Falcon 100. In addition, the facility is qualified to provide engine maintenance on the CFE738, Honeywell TFE731-series engines and Pratt &amp; Whitney Canada PW307A and PW308C. Since the facility opened in June 2009, Dassault Falcon Jet has continued to expand the Sorocaba service center, increasing manpower, spare parts and tooling.

 


According to Dassault, the Sorocaba facility is able to “dispatch an AOG team to support Falcons anywhere in South America, along with the parts and tools necessary to get the aircraft flying again with minimal delay.” The company houses more than $4.7 million worth of high-usage parts in its separate São Paulo facility.

 


Embraer Executive Jets announced it has opened new support facilities and expanded the contact center at its São José dos Campos headquarters to accommodate growth in customer care needs. (See page 57.) In addition, Edson Carlos Mallaco, the Brazilian airframer’s v-p of customer support and services, announced at LABACE that Embraer has added a new authorized service center for the Phenom 100 and 300 in the northeast of Brazil. AeroMecânica, located at Coroa do Avião Airport near metropolitan Recife, becomes the first in the region to be approved for line maintenance, scheduled inspections and remote service. The shop will work in cooperation with Embraer’s field service representative, already in place in the region.

 


AeroMecânica has a second maintenance location in Curitiba, where it has been an authorized Phenom service facility since 2011. Also part of the national service network are Algar Aviation in Belo Horizonte; Globo Aviação in Brasilia; Boar Aviação in Goiânia; and Embraer-owned service centers in São José dos Campos and in São Paulo at Sorocaba Airport.

 


Separately, Embraer’s São José dos Campos factory service center has been named Brazil’s authorized Rolls-Royce line maintenance center for the AE3007 turbofan, which powers the Embraer ERJ-145 line of regional jets and the Legacy 600/650. Embraer can now perform warranty repairs as well as participate in the engine manufacturer’s CorporateCare program services, which cover the cost of parts and labor on scheduled and unscheduled maintenance. Embraer’s service portfolio includes maintenance tracking tools, performance and flight operation software as well as special maintenance programs such as Embraer Executive Care and the company’s Aircraft Health Analysis and Diagnostic (Ahead) system.

 


Textron Aviation, which appeared at the LABACE show for the first time since merging its Cessna subsidiary with newly acquired Beechcraft, announced that its Citation M2 gained certification in Brazil and Argentina. The new M2 received its <a href="http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/2013-12-23/cessna-starts-deliveries-new-m2-and-sovereign">U.S. FAA type certificate in December last year</a> and the <a href="http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/ainalerts/2014-06-24/cessnas-m2-gets-easa-ok">equivalent approval from Europe’s EASA</a> in June.

 


At the time of the show, the Citation Sovereign+ was being prepared to start Brazilian deliveries this month. Textron Aviation said it expects certification for the type from Brazil’s ANAC “soon.” The aircraft received FAA certification in December last year and EASA certification in June. It has also gained certification in Mexico, Argentina and Chile. A total of 24 had been delivered by the end of the second quarter of this year.

 


Also from the Textron group, Bell Helicopter’s under-development 505 Jet Ranger X made its Brazilian debut–in mock-up form–at the LABACE show. The company expects to fly the light single helicopter by year-end.

 


Another Latin American debutante in São Paulo was the Mecaer Aviation Group’s new MAGnificent interior for the Bell 429. The high-end interior has been designed with a range of amenities, including a center console with access to storage, insulated drink container and USB ports. It incorporates two of Mecaer’s proprietary systems: the Silens cabin-noise-reduction system and the I-Feel (in-flight entertainment enhanced lounge) cabin management system.

 


Meanwhile, as of press time, Bell was preparing to deliver the 200th example of the 429. Miramar Empreendimentos Imobiliáros, a São Paulo, Brazil-based construction and real estate group, was set to take delivery of the aircraft at the end of last month.

 


Bombardier showed off its new Challenger 350 for the first time in Brazil, marking the super-midsize model’s first airshow outing since it completed FAA certification in June. The aircraft, which made other sales stops after the show in Brazil and Guatemala en route north to Canada, was one of four Bombardier jets on show in São Paulo as part of an exhibit that also included the Learjet 75, the Challenger 605 and the Global 6000.

 


During the week of the show, Aviation Partners (API) started installing the first set of its high-Mach blended winglets on a Brazilian-registered Dassault Falcon 50. Brazil’s ANAC agency has approved an existing U.S. FAA supplemental type certificate.

 


The new-design winglets are optimized for higher cruise speeds than the Seattle-based company’s previous blended winglet design and provide drag reduction along with a corresponding range increase of 5 percent at Mach 0.80. When optimum long-range speeds are selected, that benefit can stretch to more than 7 percent.

 


Satcom Direct announced that starting September 1, owners and operators of Brazil-based aircraft equipped with suitable Garmin avionics will have streamlined access to its Iridium satellite communications services using Garmin Connext. The U.S. company’s Brazilian subsidiary, Satcom Direct Comunicações, will add the capability to customers’ existing services. New features include Global One Number, which allows callers on the ground to reach any handset on an aircraft in flight by dialing a local Brazilian telephone number, no matter where the aircraft is located; and SD Flight Tracker, a global flight-tracking solution using position reports from the Garmin Iridium system to display real-time aircraft location with Satcom Direct’s mapping technology.

 


This year’s LABACE show closed to the sound of intense speculation about the venue for the 2015 event. There appears to be growing consensus that the show has outgrown the limitations of its home on the edge of Congonhas Airport, where airline traffic is increasingly squeezing out business aviation. One favored alternative seems to be to transfer the event to the São Paulo-area Campo de Marte Airport, which offers more ramp space for the static display, an advantage offset by a shorter runway.

 


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LABACE Show Points to Latin America’s Potential

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