It’s not that aircraft aren’t being sold in Brazil and other parts of Latin America, but that transactions are taking longer to conclude, according to Gulfstream Aerospace, which will once again have a strong presence at the LABACE show in São Paulo. “We haven’t seen a big decrease in discussions about [new] aircraft, the difference has been that customers are taking longer to make a decision,” said Fabio Rebello, regional senior vice president for sales in Latin America. “There are still factors that make it uncomfortable to make a decision [to purchase] but we are now looking at a better horizon that will allow us to move on.”
On display at São Paulo’s Congonhas Airport for LABACE will be Gulfstream’s G280, as well as the G550 and G650ER. “We want to show that that G280 is a regional aircraft that can reach the whole of Latin America non-stop, or the U.S. with one-stop,” Rebello told AIN. “The 550 can fly direct to Europe and the 650ER can go direct to the Middle East. Also our new G500/600 [aircraft] are definitely under consideration [by prospective customers] all over Latin America, and people like what they have seen so far in terms of technology.”
Certainly, Gulfstream believes that Latin America’s vast geography plays to the strengths of its products. Two of its key markets, the São Paulo region and Mexico, are separated by around a 10- to 11-hour flight time, a fact that cries out for larger, longer-range aircraft.
“In Brazil lately the indicators are that people are getting more confident and believe they have reached the lower end of the economic situation, so this makes us hopeful that it will get better,” commented Rebello. “In fact, [tough business conditions] create opportunities for us because companies there feel they have to reach out more and more to find new markets outside the country, taking advantage of factors such as the exchange rate [that favors Brazilian exports]. Some companies have reached all around Latin America, some beyond to the U.S. and Europe, some to Africa and some as far as China. We’re now seeing opportunity all over Latin America and the Caribbean, and it is very promising, because it has been quiet for some time. And now many countries are coming back at the same time.”
There are now around 200 Gulfstream jets based in Latin America. In June 2014, the manufacturer boosted its customer support network for the region by opening a new service center in Sorocaba, Brazil, to supplement the facilities it already had in Venezuela and Mexico. It has four field service representatives based in Brazil and Mexico.