Dassault is to more than treble the value of Falcon business-jet spare parts held in Brazil through a series of deals designed to shift more line maintenance for Latin American owners to the region.
The French company signed a deal with its authorised representative, Moro Vermelho Taxi A...ro (MVTA), to base $820,000 worth of line-replaceable units at the latter's São Paulo Congonhas airport base.
Also at the show, Honeywell inked a deal to appoint MTVA as authorised repair centre for the CFE738 and TFE731H 20/30/40 engine series used on the Falcon range; Pratt & Whitney Canada pledged to base $250,000 worth of parts for its Falcon engines at its base at Suracaba, near São Paulo; and MVTA agreed to raise its own parts inventory by about 20% to $600,000.
Gerry Goguen, senior vice-president of customer service for Dassault Falcon Jet, says the deals raise rotable parts in Brazil for its aircraft from $800,000 today to $2.4 million, with most parts scheduled to be in the country by the end of April.
Goguen says the aim is to reduce the level of basic maintenance performed overseas for Latin American customers. "We've been working with MVTA for six to seven years to raise the level of routine work here, and our intention is to perform all line maintenance here." He says the Mercosur free trade area in the southern cone of South America also makes expansion in Brazil viable for supporting aircraft in Argentina, Chile and Uruguay.
The company last week appointed its first country-specific field service representative based in Brazil, saying it needed to ensure it had "the resources to service a growing number of operators".
Dassault has sold three of its long-range Falcon 7X business jets to customers in Latin America, and Jean Rosanvallon, president of Dassault Falcon Jet, says more orders will follow.
"From São Paulo, the 7X can reach most of the USA and most of Europe non-stop, which makes it appealing to businesses here." He says the 7X will perform its first flight "within weeks", with ground testing almost complete.
Source: Flight International
