Contributor - South America

Richard Pedicini

“Moving to Catarina [Executive Airport] was a hard decision,” José Eduardo Brandão—CEO of Synerjet, the Pilatus Aircraft distributor for South America—told AIN this week at LABACE 2024. “There had been several attempts at airports that ended in nothing.”
When Synerjet looked at Catarina, there was one hangar ready. Space was offered to Synerjet on the condition of a build-to-suit hangar. “Then the pandemic came,” Brandão recalled, “and we asked [airport developer] JHSF, ‘Do we go ahead?’ and JHSF said, ‘We’ll go ahead’ and I said, ‘Then I will, too.’
“We were satisfied to build the hangar. We were in expansion, when everyone else was standing still. Our maintenance center never stopped during the pandemic. And now the company is quite large.”
Hangar 5 is Synerjet’s—“The first one you see when you enter the airport. They wanted us to build where it would be visible from the highway,” Brandão said. “Everyone thought it was too big. And then we needed more space, and took Hangar 4, too. Now we have 8,500 square meters [91,500 square feet].”
Hangar 5 is all Pilatus, he explained, while Hangar 4 is devoted to other activities such as Gulfstream maintenance and a bonded warehouse. Brandão opted for a large bonded warehouse used by several business aircraft manufacturers at Catarina and said this business is tripling every year.
“We have an agreement with Pilatus where every time we put a dollar into inventory, they put a dollar into the bonded warehouse,” he said. “Honeywell is another large partner, with avionics and other systems for Pilatus and Gulfstream. We’ve got an excellent relationship.”
<h2>Pilatus</h2>
Synerjet is the Pilatus distributor for all of South America and works with partners in Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Chile, “with maintenance units that work under our control. If the Argentina center can’t do a task, our people go there to do it,” according to Brandão.
The network is flexible, he noted. “A Pilatus was hit by ground equipment in Medellín, and the best structural people were in Argentina, so they were sent to Medellín.” Synerjet can also send mechanics between countries to balance the need for labor. “Colombia, Chile, and Argentina all have excellent technical people.”
Besides the flagship Catarina hangars, Synerjet has its own centers at Liberty Airport in Medellín&nbsp;and will be opening one in Asuncion, Paraguay. Including the centers in partnerships “with this network, we can handle the aircraft in our region,” he said.
As commercial aviation expands at São Paulo Congonhas Airport and the business aviation industry there attempts to adapt, Brandão sees the need for more alternatives to Congonhas. “Commercial aviation wins—it did in Mexico, it did elsewhere,” he conceded.
Brandão points to helicopters as an example. “When Helipark [and] when Helicidade were proposed, there were those who opposed them, saying, ‘You’ll kill helicopters at [São Paulo] Campo de Marte Airport.’ But if we didn’t expand, we wouldn’t have sold so many helicopters; there would have been no space. But we haven’t done the same for airplanes.”
So he picked up shop at Congonhas and was the first to move to Catarina, a purpose-built business aviation airport.
<h2>Agribusiness as a Barometer</h2>
While business aviation is booming right now in Brazil, Brandão warned, “Much can change, and quickly. Agribusiness is a thermometer, and there’s a surplus of soybeans in the world. [Agribusiness] buyers are beginning to watch their cash. They’re negotiating. Demand is strong, but without the urgency of last year. It takes buyers longer to put their hands in their pockets—if they put it in at all.”
Looking beyond Brazil, he said, “There are 23 countries in Latin America, and they have different economies and politics. Some are left, some are right. But Latin America has an enchantment that I’m starting to understand. If things go well in Brazil, they go well in Chile.”
He argued against discounting smaller countries in the region. “Guatemala surprised us; we sold several PC-24s. It’s not an economic potency, but there are small but effervescent economies in Latin America.”
Synerjet recently took the PC-24 on a tour through 15 Latin American countries. Brandão reported that the light jet was well received at each of the stops.

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