Story ID: 389
Lider Launches Charter, Aircraft Sales App
By: Richard Pedicini
Caption: Brazilian business aviation service provider Lider serves Brazil business aviation in many different ways.
Word Count: 438

Lider, Brazil’s oldest business aviation firm, with a national chain of FBOs and VIP facilities, is in some ways the industry's most modern service provider, and while it reacts and adapts to changes in market demand, it is also ahead of some trends.

Lider is the exclusive sales and support provider in Brazil for the HondaJet, which aircraft sales director Philipe Figueiredo described as having “great receptivity in the market.” Lider also unveiled its new mobile app—expected to be fully functional in September—which will be “a path from the market to Lider,” permitting charter and empty-legs booking at a discount. The app can also facilitate the purchase and sale of aircraft. Figueiredo admits the app won’t replace salesmen as “relationship is very important in aircraft sales,” and for charters “the phone will keep working.”

Lider follows the market much as everyone else, and with the current economic situation and reduced budgets, the company has innovated by offering one-stop-shop capability for maintenance and retrofits during a single visit. “Our business is tied to the economy,” Figueiredo said, but that commonplace observation prefaces a more widespread view of the market. “As agribusiness has grown, opening new frontiers, we’ve followed.” The frontiers he cites are geographic and exotic, such as the Upper Xingu region. Truly, Lider believes in following the market for people who need aircraft for regional transportation.

Cyntia Oliveira, Lider’s operations director, is responsible for the company's FBOs. The flagship at Galeão International Airport in Rio was opened for the Olympics in 2016, and FBOs and VIP rooms around the country are being progressively renovated to the Signature standard, with the Congonhas VIP room next on the list. Renovated facilities will have doubled passenger and crew areas.

One difficulty that FBOs face is that Brazilian law doesn’t provide for fee-based differential treatment for private aircraft passengers. The Rio FBO was constructed with customs and immigration facilities that so far have not been used, although Lider “hopes to be the pioneer." The company has gained permission for domestic passengers to depart directly from the FBO, which was not previously allowed. At Guarulhos airport, Lider provides special treatment for its passengers with a VIP room inside the terminal.

Privatization of airports in Brazil has led to concessionaires seeking increased fees from business aviation users. Oliveira is unconcerned, however, and said, “We’ve managed to negotiate” with some concessionaires.

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