Contributor - South America

Richard Pedicini

New aviation fair Expomarte brought the strength of Brazil’s agribusiness to São Paulo, riding a strong recovery in&nbsp;the&nbsp;general/business aviation sector in the months since LABACE. Previously hosted in farming centers as EABAirshow, the fair ran&nbsp;from&nbsp;October 26 to 28 and brought 45 aircraft and 102 exhibitors to Campo de Marte Airport.

 


While the show concentrated on smaller aircraft, Embraer showed a Phenom 300 and a Cessna Citation on display sported a “for sale” sign. Expomarte also attracted firms that&nbsp;typically eschew LABACE due to the business aviation show’s higher costs, as well several players familiar to LABACE visitors.

 


TAM Aviação Executiva highlighted its maintenance capabilities at its Jundaí center, the largest Cessna-authorized service center outside the U.S. and also a Beechcraft King Air service center; Belo Horizonte center, which was recently approved for Beechcraft; and fledgling center in Aracati in the country’s northeast, with approvals expected to service that region’s King Air fleet.

 


Maintenance manager Valter Dutra said&nbsp;he&nbsp;felt improvement&nbsp;through&nbsp;October: “Businessmen had money in their pockets, waiting for politics to stabilize, and they’re starting to spend.”

 


Meanwhile, TAM Aviação Executiva parts manager Joel Neves said demand from repair shops has been up as much as 50 percent over the last three to four months. And company aircraft sales manager Rafael Mugnaini quantified 2017 as being “20 percent better than last year, and we expect to end the year with a backlog, which hasn’t happened for several years, in helicopters, jets and single-engine airplanes.”

 


Representing Textron gives TAM a portfolio of 25 products, and “we have the largest sales force,” said Mugnaini. TAM intends to expand its maintenance capability to include the Bell 505 and he sees owners of the country’s 500 Robinson 44s as natural prospects for the new Bell light turbine helicopter.

 


“We're seeing improvement since July. Everything's getting better because the economy is getting better. A stable dollar helps a lot,” added Paulo Carvalho, the sales manager for Brazil at Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based Southern Cross Aviation. “We sold three aircraft to Brazil in September—a Hawker, a Lear and a King Air, while over the last two years we'd sent 25 back to the U.S.”

 


At Expomarte, Dallas Aeronautical Services showed off a capability it has developed in São José dos Campos that it does not yet offer in the U.S.—interior completions. “We’re working on a complete interior for a Learjet 45 today, and we can do any Embraer business jet interior,” said company interiors manager Leandro Abreu. “The whole interior is done with composites, headliners, side panels, furnishings.”

 


Helicidade, unusually absent from LABACE this year, appeared at Expomarte, with director Edson Pedroso observing, “We’ve seen improvement since August. There’s more movement among our hangared aircraft. Those who have a helicopter are flying again. In fact, we’ve had the best September since 2014.” At Helicidade, he’s seen a long-term movement to larger helicopters.

 


<h2>Niche Products</h2>

 


Some exhibitors aimed at the market that not only flies privately, but lands privately. Fernando Calha of IBDTech showed off independently solar-powered landing lights, which are easier to install and maintain at small or private airfields. Meanwhile, Plamex offered “fueling solutions for commercial, business and agricultural aviation,” including tanks, filters and pumps.

 


APS general manager Fabio R.R. Nascimento has also seen an uptick in its propeller maintenance services in Brazil. “We’re alone in this market,” he said, and while principal customer Azul, which formerly had the world’s largest ATR fleet at 62 aircraft&nbsp;is reducing the fleet to less than half, he’s unconcerned. “In 2017, we’ve increased our customers from three to 15. As we add capability, new clients appear.”

 


Auto parts manufacturer Motorav showed its 165-pound, 100-hp aircraft engine, based on a reinforced version of the magnesium motor blocks it’s&nbsp;exported for the Volkswagen Beetle&nbsp;for decades. Motorav mines, refines, casts and machines magnesium to produce a product competitive with aluminum, which it plans to bring to market next year at a price of $12,900.

 


Organizer Décio Corrêa told&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;on the show’s closing day that he had been fighting for the Campo de Marte Airport venue for 22 years. “It's a perfect place for a fair, and our coming here has opened the place for others,” he said.

 


The number of exhibitors jumped from 47 to 102 in the three months before Expomarte was held, a reflection of the recent recovery in the aviation market. Corrêa described the event as “a complement, not a competitor, to LABACE, like LAAD,” the biannual aviation and defense fair in Rio.

 


He also enthusiastically rattled off Campo de Marte’s advantages, including a broad,&nbsp;open,&nbsp;smoothly paved ramp larger than the cobblestone alley at Congonhas Airport that requires LABACE organizers to move in aircraft in exact order; and the trim hangars with electricity and plumbing, eliminating the need for generators and temporary bathrooms. Expomarte will take place from July 5 to 7 next year, a month before “and sort of a preview to LABACE.”

At Expomarte, Brazil's Bizav Sector Shows Signs of Life

Fair had news of a strong recovery in the general and business aviation sector in the months since LABACE.

2024 Corporate Aviation Leadership Summit

AIN Products

SUBSCRIPTIONS

RESOURCES

ABOUT AIN