Beijing interested in entering Brazilian aviation market

China announced at the LABACE 2018 aviation exhibition in Congonhas, São Paulo, that it is interested in selling in Brazil its Harbin twin-engine turboprop airplane with a capacity of 18 passengers, a reach of 3,000 kilometers and cruising speed of 250 kilometers per hour.

José Santos, a representative of the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), said during the biggest business aviation fair in South America that the possibility of opening a factory to build the Harbin in Brazil has not been ruled out.

Santos said that there are huge air connections between the big Brazilian cities but there are no connections between the small cities of the interior of Brazil.

AVIC presented at the event, which had more than 100 companies, a model of the Y-12 turbo- prop that has a sale price in the order of US$5 million. Santos also said that this type of airplane along with the Y-12F and Y1-2E models are suitable for use as air taxis and in the medical transport and agriculture sectors.

The export version of the turbo-prop plane is called the “Twin Panda” and the largest buyers are located in Africa and Asia. LABACE was attended by Brazilian aviation company Embraer, which presented 47 different types of aircraft with prices ranging from $2 to $ 60 million.  MDT/Macauhub