ABC Taxi Aéreo, the executive jet service controlled by Brazilian industrial conglomerate Algar, recently acquired Belo Horizonte-based jet maintenance company Alfa Manutenção de Aeronaves. With the acquisition, ABC will expand its maintenance operations beyond turboprops and into jets. ABC expects to have 25 percent of the turboprop maintenance market and 25 percent of the jet maintenance market share by year-end. ABC will now offer maintenance services for Cessnas, Learjets and Astras. The company is also authorized to service six types of turboprop aircraft.

A Market for Maintenance

ABC will continue to focus on the state of Minas Gerais,  key industrial and agricultural region of Brazil. “Belo Horizonte is a great market,” said Fernando Morais, the coordinator of ABC’s service center. In addition to being the state capital, it is also the headquarters of Fiat Brazil and of several important steel and mining companies. Likewise, Uberlândia, where the company is headquartered, is an impor-tant agricultural center and the gateway to Brazil’s center-west region, the country’s newest agricultural frontier.

ABC reports strong demand for maintenance services, including the RVSM approval process, since it announced the acquisition. “We thought RVSM would be harder to sell, but we have been pleasantly surprised,” said Morais. He added that the company expects demand for RVSM approval to increase in the future, as the cost of installation begins to decline.

The company has also seen an increase in demand for its executive charter services. ABC recently acquired two new aircraft for its jet charter service and was expected to announce the make and model of those jets soon.

Morais said that the impetus for the growing demand for jet services is the region’s economic boom and Brazil’s crackdown on illegal charter operations. “The DAC [Department of Civil Aviation] has really stepped up enforcement and the number of clandestine operators is down, which has boosted operations for official operators,” said Morais.