TAM Aviacao Executiva has celebrated 20 years of its service centre in Jundiai, São Paulo, the largest for executive aviation in Latin America, as well as 20 of representing Bell in Brazil.

With an area of ​​over 20,000sqm and handling an average of dozens of services per month, the Jundiai facility is considered the largest service centre approved by Textron Aviation outside the US and has several certifications, including those from Brazil's ANAC, the US FAA, Chile's DGAC, Argentina's ANAC and the Paraguayan DINAC, in addition to approval by the Brazilian Air Force, Army and Navy.

In order to further expand the range of services available there, TAM AE has made several investments in modernisation and innovation in recent years. Among them, in 2023, a contract with Pratt & Whitney as a Designated Maintenance Facility (DMF) and part of P&WC's global service network, which allows the company to perform maintenance on a wide variety of P&WC engines in Brazil. The country currently has a fleet of 3,400 P&W engines, of which more than half (1,900) can be serviced in Jundiai. In addition to Pratt & Whitney, TAM AE is the only authorised Williams engine centre in Latin America.

“Our service centre in Jundiai is the largest and most qualified in the segment in Latin America, and its existence is extremely important for the sector, which has a specialised service and maintenance hub in a strategic region. Year after year, the maintenance sector has been gaining relevance and is now responsible for a significant part of our revenue and results,” says president Leonardo Fiuza.

“We have evolved in our capabilities and are promoters of the most advanced and complex MRO activities. We are always seeking to be at the forefront of technology, offering modernisation, efficiency and operational safety to our customers. These are two decades of an impeccable legacy, a source of pride for all of us at the company, which makes us look ahead with optimism towards the next 20 years,” adds Wellington Amorim, director of the service centre.

To perform the services, Jundiai has ​​a large quantity of spare parts in stock comprising more than 7,000 different part numbers, and a special customs warehouse that allows the import of Textron Aviation aircraft parts, components and engines from several OEMs quickly and at a lower cost, in addition to international purchasing and logistics teams that manage imports and AOGs, resulting in shorter aircraft downtime.

Other services with high demand are specialised ones such as avionics upgrades and installations, complete painting and interior design. Last year, in April, TAM AE unveiled a new paint booth capable of servicing all Textron aircraft (piston aircraft from the Cessna and Beechcraft brands; turboprops from the Caravan and King Air lines; in addition to all jets from the Citation family) and several large models from other manufacturers.

The space has a series of modernisations, including a new lighting system that eliminates shadows and favours faithful colour reproduction; a laboratory for the meticulous preparation of paints; high sealing, which hinders the entry of particles and allows for excellent painting work; and an efficient exhaust system, with high filtration of particles that are expelled, thus reducing environmental impact. Also noteworthy is the new and exclusive Virtek Iris 3D system, which allows the 3D design of stripes on the aircraft fuselage, eliminating the masking process and speeding up the painting work by up to four times.

TAM AE's highly successful partnership with Bell offers the Brazilian market an innovative and complete portfolio with the most advanced helicopters, including the 429, the most advanced light twin-turbine in its category; the 407GXI model, an evolution of its predecessor, the renowned 407; and the 505, a light single-turbine that is an absolute market success; currently 10 per cent of the world's fleet of 429s and 505s are in the country.

In the last two years, TAM AE has won the award for Bell's largest sales representative in the world, in recognition of the excellent results obtained in the country.

“It is an honour and a source of great pride for us to celebrate this successful partnership with Bell. Brazil has a fleet of over 2,000 helicopters, and this number continues to grow. We have a very high demand, with an extremely demanding market that recognises Bell products as valuable and essential attributes for operations,” says Fiuza.

TAM Aviacao Executiva was established over 60 years ago under the name Táxi Aéreo Marília. It has operated in Brazil as the exclusive representative of Cessna since 1982; of Bell since 2004; of FlightSafety International since 2003; and Beechcraft since 2016.