Just last week, Brazil hosted the 9th Annual Latin American Business Aviation Conference and Expo (LABACE) in São Paolo. The record attendance at LABACE 2012 is indicative of the rosy prospects for business aviation in the region, especially Brazil.
Brazil has demonstrated significant growth in private aviation in the past couple of years.
- Traffic at general aviation airports within 100 miles of São Paolo has doubled in the last 5 years.
- Embraer is opening a new center in Sorocaba, which is already home to the Dassault Falcon and Gulfstream centers.
- The number of private jets in 2011 increased to 623 — 77 more than in 2010. That’s a growth rate of nearly 14 percent!
As is common in emerging private jet markets, the infrastructure to support aviation is not adequate and needs serious improvements. Earlier this year, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton worked with Brazil minister of external relations Antonio Patriota to develop the U.S.-Brazil Aviation Partnership. The memo of understanding allows private and public entities from the U.S. and Brazil to work together to improve airport security, technology, and infrastructure.
Brazil is very close to allowing the private construction of business aviation airports, and this would alleviate the considerable traffic at congested commercial hubs. Check out the plans for a new general aviation airport, Catarina Aeroporto Executiva, in the São Paolo region.
There’s a sense of urgency, too, for Brazil to ramp up its aviation infrastructure. The country hosts the World Cup in 2014. In 1950, the last time the World Cup was in Rio de Janeiro, more than 1 million people attended. Rio also is the location for the 2016 Olympic Games; more than 9 million seating tickets were sold for the London games this summer.
People (and jets) get ready!