Leonardo's AW09 helicopter mockup is on site this week at LABACE after a tour of Brazil. When the prior mockup appeared at LABACE 2019, it was called the SH09, the OEM was Kopter, and it was shown by exclusive distributor Gualter Helicopteros. Since then, Leonardo has bought Kopter and rebaptized and upgraded the single-engine helicopter. Gualter, meanwhile, has become a Leonardo distributor and has already secured 20 delivery positions while selling at least five AW09s in Brazil.

The new model's last pre-LABACE stop was a cocktail hour Thursday evening at Sao Paulo heliport Helipark. Not only is this mockup more representative of the actual helicopter, but the AW09 itself is closer to reality, with its fourth prototype performing test flights in Mollis, Switzerland, in preparation for EASA certification. A fifth prototype is being developed for FAA certification, and both approvals are expected in the second half of 2024.

Embraer Executive Jets chief commercial officer Steve Friedrich said he is “very pleased with [the company’s] overall results” reported on Friday and with Embraer’s strong share in Latin America and Brazil, where buyers appreciate “the value proposition of new aircraft” in a market previously skewed to preowned jets.

The Phenom 300E, which Embraer is displaying this week at LABACE along with the Praetor 600, has a 30 percent market share in the region. Along with the smaller Phenom 100, the company is “pushing a 40 percent market share for light jets in Latin America.” There are 275 Embraer business jets based in Latin America.

Brazil's federal government started privatizing airports, once a legal monopoly, in 2011. Sao Paulo, the country’s richest state, not only had its own airline—the now-defunct VASP—but its own string of airports, which it began privatizing in 2017. That same year in July, the Voa SP consortium took over the operation of five airports, the important general aviation fields in Jundiai and Campo dos Amarais in Campinas, another in Braganca Paulista, and two seaside airports in Ubatuba and Itanhaem.

Another 22 airports in two blocks of 11 were auctioned in 2021, with the Voa SP consortium part of the same Rede Voa group winning the Southeast block and control passing this April. These include the Sorocaba general aviation airport, which also has a strong MRO presence, and Sao Carlos airport, where LATAM performs most of its airliner maintenance, as well as nine others.

The HondaJet Elite II is on display for the first time at LABACE, at the Lider Aviacao exhibit. Lider is Honda Aircraft's exclusive representative in Brazil.

The HondaJet Elite II's longer range of 1,547 nm, 110 nm more than its predecessor, allows flights to all the capitals in the Brazilian northeast from Sao Paulo, according to Anderson Markiewicz, Lider's aircraft sales and acquisitions director. "It is important to highlight that this model maintains the HondaJet characteristic of better fuel efficiency, with lower greenhouse gas emissions than other twin-engine jets of similar size."