Brazil’s business aviation association has a lot more to celebrate this year than it did 12 months ago, with growing demand for aircraft and solid financial results from executive charter companies flowing from significant improvements in the local economy. But ABAG (the Portuguese acronym stands for Associação Brasileira de Aviação Geral) continues to focus on sensitizing the government to the needs of the industry and convincing officials that executive aviation is a business tool and not an extravagance.
After avoiding the tax on vehicle ownership in 2003, the industry faced another tax hurdle last year, when Brazil’s finance ministry decided to apply the social contribution tax (known as PIS/Cofins) to imported goods. “Because the aviation industry depends almost exclusively on imported parts and components, this tax represented a huge threat to the industry,” said ABAG executive vice president Adalberto Febeliano.
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