Dassault eyes Brazil's jet-setters

0 Comments | AFP, August, 2008

SAO PAULO (AFP) — French corporate jet-maker Dassault Falcon is extending its service to customers in Brazil as it warily looks at growing competition from domestic rival Embraer, its chief executive Jean Rosanvallon said Wednesday.

The decision to open a 6.5-million-dollar jet maintenance center in Sao Paulo underlines the company's interest in Latin America's biggest economy, which is still growing at a healthy rate, unlike the main markets of the United States and Europe, he said.

"Increased international trade, a robust economy and a strong real are the biggest drivers for the growing business aviation market in Brazil," he said, adding that the number of its Falcon jets in the country was expected to double by 2011.

Rosanvallon, speaking at a corporate...