VIP terminals of South America

The catalogue holds 21 objects in the region: business aviation terminals, FBOs and VIP lounges in 17 cities. Below are the ones that set the level of service in the region, and a short map of the rest.

FBO Líder Aviação Pampulha

Belo Horizonte, Brazil · Carlos Drummond de Andrade Pampulha Airport (PLU) · standalone complex

The historic home of Líder Aviação: the company was founded in Belo Horizonte in 1958, and its headquarters, hangars and one of its principal maintenance centres are here. After scheduled services moved to Confins, the city airport of Pampulha became the main business aviation site of the Minas Gerais region. The complex includes hangar storage, aircraft handling and a VIP lounge with meeting rooms, showers and a bar. The base is convenient for its closeness to the city's business centre, which hosts the headquarters of mining corporations.

Helicol FBO Bogotá

Bogotá, Colombia · El Dorado International Airport (BOG) · standalone complex

The FBO of Helicol, one of Colombia's oldest helicopter operators, located in hangar No. 19 in the new general aviation zone of El Dorado airport. Passengers have a VIP lounge and crews a separate lounge; the operator arranges ground transport, hotels and communications. For both aeroplanes and helicopters it provides handling, flight plan filing, weather briefings, towing, parking, cleaning, fuelling and ground power. Helicol also supports legal procedures, including aircraft registration, and maintains its own maintenance and training capability.

FBO Líder Aviação Brasília

Brasília, Brazil · Brasília President Juscelino Kubitschek International Airport (BSB) · standalone complex

Photo: André Gustavo Stumpf from Brasília, Brasil, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

The capital base of Líder Aviação, Latin America's largest business aviation company: founded in 1958 in Belo Horizonte by Captain José Afonso Assumpção, it today numbers 16 bases at Brazil's principal airports and works with the international Signature Aviation network. The FBO occupies its own hangar No. 16 with an apron in the Lago Sul hangar sector of Brasília international airport. Passengers have an executive lounge and a meeting room, and flights receive full ground handling, fuelling and hangar accommodation; customs and passport clearance for international flights is arranged through the airport's state services. The site is oriented to business and official visits to the capital and works in concert with the network's other bases, including the FBOs at Congonhas and Santos Dumont.

Universal Aviation Buenos Aires — Aeroparque

Buenos Aires, Argentina · Jorge Newbery Aeroparque (AEP) · standalone complex

The FBO of the global Universal Aviation network at the city aerodrome two kilometres from the centre of Buenos Aires, on the Rafael Obligado waterfront. Passengers have their own VIP lounge, meeting rooms, showers, a prayer room and refreshments; aircraft have apron parking and hangar storage. The team works round the clock, and customs and immigration clearance is arranged so that a passenger's passage through the airport averages 30–45 minutes. The operator is known for long-standing relations with the airport administration and for handling large business flights, including wide-body aircraft.

FBO Líder Aviação Vitória

Vitória, Brazil · Eurico de Aguiar Salles Airport, Vitória (VIX) · standalone complex

The Líder Aviação base in the capital of Espírito Santo state — the only one in the network for which the company's site gives a separate VIP lounge contact. The complex combines aircraft handling, charter operations and a passenger lounge to the network standard: meeting rooms, showers, a bar, free internet. Vitória is the centre of a port and mining region, and business and helicopter flights operate from here, including to offshore platforms. The operator has worked in the city for many years and handles business jets and helicopters alike.

Aerosupport FBO Cartagena

Cartagena, Colombia · Rafael Núñez International Airport (CTG) · standalone complex

Colombia's first purpose-built FBO terminal, opened in Cartagena in December 2014; investment in construction came to about 19.6 billion pesos. Inside are a waiting lounge, a business centre, meeting rooms, a bar, showers and a pilots' rest room, and a separate area for state services handling international flights. Hangars for parking and servicing aircraft adjoin the terminal. The operator Aerosupport is the largest FBO network in Colombia and Panama, and the Cartagena project was created in partnership with the American network Million Air; the terminal serves the resort and conference traffic of the Caribbean coast.

Interejecutiva FBO Medellín

Medellín (Rionegro), Colombia · José María Córdova International Airport (Rionegro) (MDE) · standalone complex

The only FBO at José María Córdova airport with its own hangar and private apron — the company calls it unique in Latin America. The complex is housed in hangar No. 13 and includes VIP lounges for passengers and crews, parking for corporate aircraft and its own screening area with a canine unit and X-ray control. Customs and immigration clearance takes place on site, bypassing the common terminal. The operator Interejecutiva also handles charter operations and aircraft management, and so covers the entire cycle of servicing business flights into Medellín.

FBO Líder Aviação Congonhas (Signature CGH)

São Paulo, Brazil · Aeroporto de Congonhas — Deputado Freitas Nobre (CGH) · standalone complex

Photo: Vice-Presidência da República, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

Líder Aviação's FBO at Congonhas has been named the best in Latin America several times. The company moved its operations into a new building of its own with a hangar and a separate entrance from Avenida Bandeirantes, away from the passenger terminal. Inside is a VIP lounge with a bar and catering for passengers and crews; the handling service assists with obtaining the mandatory slots and with customs coordination, and hangarage and fuelling are available. It works in partnership with the international Signature Aviation network. The airport stands next to São Paulo's main business districts.

Other objects in the region

The whole series

Of the 308 terminals in the worldwide catalogue, 21 fall to South America, and they are spread across the continent unevenly: more than half of the region is held by Brazil and Colombia. How usual such clusters are elsewhere in the world, what separates a standalone complex with its own apron from a standalone building, and which operator networks work across several continents at once are set out in the summary article VIP terminals of business aviation worldwide.

How to use this

The format of the site at the destination is settled together with the route, before the flight is booked. The catalogue shows where a private flight has a fallback: São Paulo accounts for four entries — Congonhas, Guarulhos, São Roque and the TAP terminal — Buenos Aires for three counting San Fernando, and Bogotá and Santiago for two each. Thirteen of the region's objects are standalone complexes with their own apron and hangars, seven are standalone buildings, and only in Lima are private flights received in a lounge inside the common terminal. A city absent from the list means arriving alongside scheduled flights and taking the shared route to the exit.

Brazil is present in my practice from two sides: the Embraer Legacy is one of the types I have done deals on. The Mi-8/Mi-171 family that I operate has reached Brazil too: the Mi-171A1 version, built to ICAO and FAA rules, was delivered there — about four machines.

Alexander Filimonov — business aviation: sourcing, acquisition and entry into service of aircraft.