to the air framers or MRO companies,”
notes Paulo Springmann, the aerospace
business development manager for BASF
Canada, based in Mississauga, Ontario.
Sherwin-Williams distribution hubs
for its aviation products, through
Hawker Beechcraft Services, are in
Monterrey and Toluca.
Among OEMs selling aircraft into
Latin America, Boeing is one leader. Marc
Allen, Boeing international’s president,
was recently quoted in local press indicating that the company had an order of 100
aircraft from Mexico. Aeromexico, the
largest airline in Mexico, expects to expand its fleet this year by five aircraft, including both Boeing aircraft and Embraer
equipment. The airline now owns roughly
40 percent of Mexico’s total aircraft fleet.
Brazil’s aviation market, unlike
Mexico’s highly diversified industry, is
concentrated primarily in the ex-state
company Embraer, which has become a
global leader in the executive and small
jet (under 130 seats) industry. Embraer
sales last year hit $1.6 billion, and deliveries in first quarter of 2016 included
44 jets, up 37. 5 percent compared to the
prior year quarter. The company also reported a backlog worth $21.9 billion as
of the end of first quarter this year.
A year ago, PPG Industries completed
a $40 million expansion of its Sumaré,
São Paulo, coatings manufacturing facility. Resin produced at the facility will be
used to manufacture PPG’s electrocoat
products to meet growing demand from
automotive OEMs and industrial coatings customers in the region, including
the aerospace segment.
Brazil’s economy is expected to continue to retract at about -1.7 percent this
year before returning to a positive growth
rate of 2.4 percent next year, according to
the World Bank.
The highly diversified Mexican aerospace industry has been growing at an
average 17 percent per year since 2004,
according to the Federacion Mexicana
de la Industria Aeroespacial (FEMIA),
the Mexican association of the aerospace industry. The major OEMs are
backlogged for years, so sub-contractors
for parts have plenty of work available,
noted Athansopoulos.
Industrial surface finishing, including aviation and automotive sectors, will grow at
double the rate – over five percent – of the
national growth rate this year, predicts
Marcelo Álvarez Martínez, the president
of the Asociación Mexicana de Industriales
de Acabados Superficiales (AMAS), or the
Mexican association of surface finishing
industries, speaking at his groups latest
annual meeting, Surface Finishing México
(SFM) 2016, in Querétaro.
Mexico’s GDP is forecast to grow by
2.8 percent this year, up from 2.5 percent
in 2015, and to continue expanding by an
additional 0.2 percent per year through
2018, according to the World Bank.
Mexico’s Secretario de Economía,
Ildefonso Guajardo, estimates that aerospace exports by Mexico in 2015 reached
$7.2 billion. Exports by the industry are
expected to exceed $12 billion by the end
of this decade.
Some $2 billion have been invested
in Mexican aerospace over the past
three years, according to a statement by
Gerardo Ruiz Esparza, the El Secretario
de Comunicaciones y Transportes (SCT),
or transportation minister. The aerospace
industry in Queretaro State, southeast of
Mexico City, alone attracted a total of
$200 million in investment last year, according to a press statement by Marco
Antonio del Prete Tercero, the Secretaría
de Desarrollo Sustentable del Estado de
Querétaro (SEDESU), or minister of sustainable development.
French aerospace giant Safran recently opened a new facility in Querétaro,
Snecma America Engine Service, for the
repair parts for CFM International’s
CFM56 engine, destined for the U.S.
market. This is the 10th Safran plant in
Mexico, and it also will become part of
the global supply chain for the LEAP engine used in the Boeing 737 MAX. The
plant also will begin to supply parts to
China’s Commercial Aircraft Corporation
of China (COMAC), later this year.
Another state that has become a major
aviation parts power is Coahuila, which
shares its northern border with the mid-
dle of Texas’ southern border, about 150
miles from San Antonio, Texas. Alcoa,
for example, is increasing its total invest-
ment in Ciudad Acuña to $30 million,
including metal finishing, according to
the Mexico-Now Aerospace Bulletin.
Alcoa unit Howmet de Mexico is sup-
ported through a Del Rio, Texas office.
Similarly, General Electric subsidiary
Unison Industries recently opened a $2
million new plant in Saltillo, Coahuila,
for accessories and control systems will
be produced. GE has also opened a new
on-wing repair facility in Rio de Janeiro.
Other key aerospace manufacturing centers in Mexico are located in Baja California,
Chihuahua and Nuevo León States.
Regarding other aviation manufacturing and service hubs, Cooper forecasted
that the global Maintenance, Repair and
Overhaul market would grow from $67
billion in 2015 to $100 billion by 2025.
By section, the airframe represents 17 percent of all MRO service by value, engines
about 47 percent, other components 19
percent and line service 18 percent. Latin
America’s share of the MRO market is
now about $3.2 billion, with a 7. 3 percent growth rate, the forecast indicates.
Among other MRO service hub locations in Latin America is El Salvador.
Canada’s Aeroman built $60 million
worth of new hangars in Comalapa,
Chalatenango Department, over the past
few years to service six aircraft simultaneously. Ernesto Ruiz, the company CEO,
told local press that Aeroman’s plans
include additional capacity for aircraft
maintenance over the next five years.
The company estimated that it would hit
two million man-hours at aircraft frame
maintenance last year.
Similarly, Avio Trade, based in Miami, in
September 2015 opened its first engine repair facility in the San José Aviation Cluster,
in the Zaragoza, La Libertad Department,
El Salvador, to repair the PT6 engine common in private aircraft. With commercial
clients said to include Avianca, Aeroman,
Latam, Copa, VRG, and American Airlines,
the company now has plans for initial facilities in Brazil and Mexico.
And in Colombia, Avianca is building
out its Avianca Aeronautical Center next
to the José María Córdova International
Airport in Rionegro, within the
Antioquia Department of Colombia.
The facility will handle two wide-body
aircraft simultaneously. CW
