Bradesco, Brazil’s largest bank and largest aviation lender, sent several top executives to LABACE. Bradesco is a long-time sponsor of the show, and this year also sponsored the Olympics. Manager Francisco de Assis Bernardi said that in the first half of 2016, the bank financed no aircraft. But in just the past 50 days, 12 financings are underway, with good prospects for finalizing them. “I hope that the market will return–it’s already possible to feel a difference.”

The whole process of aircraft acquisition is dollarized (though the final transaction is converted to reals), and with the returning strength of the real, the bank now has financing for seven importations underway.

Also, in the internal market (predominantly pre-owned aircraft), Bradesco is also seeing movement–Bernardi was keen to stress that the bank also finances used aircraft. Asked about whether Embraer receives special treatment as a domestic manufacturer, he noted that a government loan program that offered fixed interest rate loans on domestic products had been suspended in January, taking that advantage away from Embraer. But he added that “the new factory in Florida puts them on the same competitive footing as Cessna.”