Amid gleaming jets and turboprops, TAM Aviação Executiva’s LABACE 2022 static display features two old but beautifully restored piston-engine aircraft, including a Cessna 195 from the 1950s that had belonged to the firm's founder, Commander Rolim. “We are celebrating 60 years of TAM AE and have been for the last year. The commemoration ends at LABACE,” said TAM AE president Leonardo Fiuza, explaining the nod to the firm's beginnings.
Besides the Model 195, TAM AE is also displaying this week at the show a vintage Cessna 180F, three Cessna Citations (Latitude, CJ3+, and M2 Gen2), a Beechcraft King Air 360, Cessna Grand Caravan EX, and two helicopters (Bell 429 and 505 Jet Ranger X).
This LABACE also marks 40 years that TAM AE, which is number one in business aviation sales in Brazil, has represented Cessna and now Textron Aviation in the Latin American country. Additionally, the pandemic has been “good for our sector” all over the world, Fiuza said, including for Brazil and TAM AE.
As for the customer base, Fiuza said, ”Agribusiness has always been strong, but last year it increased. Users are [motivated] to buy, though most change their current model for something new or upgrade their category.” He noted that the financial sector and other industries are also having good moments, adding that TAM AE's charter business "has improved and continues improving."
At the opening of LABACE 2022 yesterday, Secretary of Civil Aviation Ronei Glanzman, Brazil's highest-ranking aviation official, gave a strong endorsement of the nascent urban air mobility (UAM) industry. ”Support for UAM is a clear public policy,” Glanzman told AIN. Local aircraft manufacturer Embraer is a major investor in its Eve spinoff, which is planning to manufacture an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, although it isn’t displaying a prototype this week at the show.
He listed what makes Brazil an ideal incubator for a UAM ecosystem: “ANAC, DECEA, Embraer, and WEG”—referring to the country's civil aviation agency, airspace managing agency, homegrown aircraft manufacturer, and electric motor maker in the southern state of Santa Catarina, respectively.
The secretary also brought up the theme of “capillarity,” generally used to mean the extension of air travel to unserved cities far from the large urban centers. In the context of eVTOLs, though, he listed satellite cities such as Sorocaba, São Roque, and others that are not São Paulo suburbs but reasonably close. Glanzman sees eVTOLs as linking these cities to airports.
With a supportive government including an aircraft certification agency, cooperative airspace organization, major aircraft manufacturer, and large densely populated cities, Glanzman said Brazil "has the DNA for eVTOLs.”
The importation of aircraft is booming as the effects of the Covid pandemic wind down, according to Timbro, a Brazil-based trading and import/export firm. With its ability to conduct foreign trade transactions with significant savings on taxes, Timbro’s aircraft imports into Brazil climbed by 171 percent in the first half of 2022 from the same period a year ago. The value of the imports was 135 percent higher year-over-year. From 2019 to 2022, Timbro increased the number of aircraft imported by 250 percent.
Timbro does more than pass along tax advantages, according to Philipe Figueiredo, chief commercial officer and head of sales. “The great advantage in importing an aircraft with Timbro is the simplification of the entire operation. The aircraft arrives ready for the buyer.”
The growth of Timbro is due to more than just the improving economy, as the company has increased its market share. “In June 2021, we were already responsible for 25 percent of executive aircraft imports in Brazil,” Figueiredo said. “By tripling our team dedicated 100 percent to aviation last year, we expanded the volume of operations and today we are responsible for more than 30 percent of aircraft import processes in the country.”
Figueiredo’s goal for the aviation unit is to close 2022 with billings 300 percent greater than 2021.
Gulfstream Aerospace, which brought its G500 and G650ER business jets to the LABACE static display this week, has added a new field service representative in Brazil and partnered with local maintenance providers Líder Aviação and Aero Rio Táxi Aéreo. The two companies will provide warranty repairs, maintenance, and spare parts for the G650/G650ER, G550, and G280.
The new Brazil FSR, Roberto César Oliveira, is based in São Paulo and holds multiple FAA and ANAC licenses. With more than 20 years in aviation, Oliveira has “extensive knowledge of Gulfstream aircraft, avionics, and maintenance planning,” Gulfstream said.
According to the manufacturer, there are more than 90 G500s in service worldwide. The G500 can fly at Mach 0.90 up to 4,500 nm or at Mach 0.85 to 5,300 nm carrying eight passengers and three crewmembers. It was the first Gulfstream jet equipped with the Honeywell Epic-based Symmetry flight deck, including fly-by-wire active control side sticks.
Also present at the first LABACE in three years, the G650ER recently earned steep approach certification from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency. The G650ER has three cabin zones and can fly eight passengers plus crew to a maximum range of 7,500 nm.
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