Fractional Ownership News
LABACE 2009: Buoyant Brazil takes the Latin American spotlight
Estimates of a 4% growth rate for Latin American business aviation in the coming decade could prove too conservative, given the optimism expressed by airframers and operators preparing for this year's LABACE Latin American business aviation convention and exhibition in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Much of the confidence comes from activity in Brazil whose economy has stayed fairly robust while the USA and others have suffered.
"Today [Brazil] has more cash money than we used to have, even with the financial crisis", says Rui Aquino, president of ABAG, the Brazilian association of general aviation. "Unemployment has been low, and politically, it's very stable. Lots of people want to buy airplanes and helicopters.
The 2014 football World Cup is tipped to help stimulate a long-term aviation infrastructure that will be friendly to business jet travellers coming from across the globe. Helping too is the favourable US dollar to Brazilian real exchange rate, which has soared 30% since March. "Everybody is aware that the used aircraft prices are so low, and the exchange rate is one of the best ever to purchase US products" says Aquino.
According to Bombardier's 10-year forecast, Latin America was home to 1,160 business jets as of 2008, excluding Airbus Corporate Jets, Boeing Business Jets and very light jets. Brazil has about 360 of those jets and about 30% of those are Bombardier products, says Ocean Air’s marketing director Jose Eduardo Brandao.
Bombardier expects the total number of jets in Latin America to increase to 1,780 by 2018, a rate of 4.3% a year on average. That compares with an expected growth rate of 15.6% for China (the high), 10.2% for Europe and 4.1% for North America (the low).
Although about 70% of business jets in Brazil are owned and flown by private owners, Brandao says an increasing number of owners are beginning to share fractional aircraft that are managed by third-party air taxi companies like OceanAir.
24/08/2009
