LABACE report: Latin American show spreads its wings
Before last month’s Latin American Business Aviation Conference & Exhibition (LABACE), organizers were forecasting the largest show to date.

Before last month’s Latin American Business Aviation Conference & Exhibition (LABACE), organizers were forecasting the largest show to date. They were not disappointed.

By the end of the second day, the visitor count had exceeded 6,500, some 500 more than attended the entire three-day event last year. Officials for Associação Brasileira de Aviação Geral (ABAG), which sponsors the event, said the final visitor tally came to 11,300, and the total of 108 exhibitors comfortably surpassed the 2007 total of 71. Perhaps more important, preliminary reports suggest that the show, held August 14 to 16 at São Paulo’s Congonhas International Airport, generated well over $300 million in new business by the end of the second day, a $200 million jump from the 2007 total.