Boeing is marking its 100th birthday at FIDAE with a chalet resembling the red barn that Bill Boeing used as his original workshop. But the world’s biggest aircraft manufacturer is also stressing the strength of its market presence in Latin America, from airliners to military aircraft, and from research facilities to space projects.
The US company will not have any aircraft on display this year; in 2012 it exhibited a 787 – local airline LAN Chile was the launch customer in Latin America for the Dreamliner – and two years ago showed a 737 in GOL colours. However, the region’s commercial airliner market – adversely affected by the economic downturn in Brazil – remains vital for Boeing, says its Latin America president Donna Hrinak, who expects “a robust market again” once the economy begins to recover. “People who have learned to fly don’t want to get back on the bus,” she says.
In terms of the defence market, she says government customers in the region are often more focused on areas such as humanitarian assistance, monitoring offshore oil platforms and fighting crime than on “existential threats” that require large fleets of fighters. “They often define security in a different way,” she says.
This, she maintains, opens the door for products such as the ScanEagle long-endurance, light unmanned air vehicle, built by Boeing subsidiary Insitu, as well as the Chinook heavy helicopter and airliner-based platforms.
Boeing has two research and development centres in Brazil – one run as a partnership with Embraer to study aviation biofuels. “Mexico is also a very important supply base. We spend $1 billion a year with Mexican suppliers,” she adds.
In terms of spaceflight, Boeing is a major partner to Mexico’s space programme, building two of its satellites and launching one of them.
Source: Flight International
