Aerocardal Joins Embraer Service Center Network
Embraer has added Aerocardal to its network of authorized service centers, marking a return to the Chilean marketplace and a renewal of a partnership with a former dealer.
Aerocardal operates a large MRO facility at Santiago’s Arturo Merino Benitez International Airport and is also Chilean agent for Pilatus and Gulfstream—having taken on the latter as a client after Embraer pulled out of the Chilean marketplace in the early 2010s.
But the new arrangement with Embraer will not see the firm handling aircraft sales.
“We were approached by Embraer a year ago, and I told them we may have some issues because the Pilatus PC-24 competes directly with the Phenom 300,” says Ricardo Real, Aerocardal’s CEO. “But I talked with the guys from Pilatus, I talked to the guys from Gulfstream, and said, ‘I’m not competing on sales, I’m just competing on service centers.’ [Until recently] there was only one Phenom 300 in Chile, and we sold it, back in 2011. Now there’s a second one, which is why they approached me.”
The new deal is important for both firms: for Embraer, a local service center will be an asset in future sales pitches, while for Aerocardal, the partnership brings growth to the MRO part of the business as well as adding to the offering it makes to its engineering staff. While the arrangement, at present, is limited to providing line maintenance and AOG support for Embraer’s executive fleet, Real believes it positions Aerocardal advantageously for any future sales the airframer’s commercial division may make in Chile.
“There are rumors” of possible Embraer airliner sales to Chilean airlines, Real says, noting that Aerocardal also maintains a range of large aircraft for the Chilean air force. “That’s my thought for the future,” he adds. “Maybe not in one year, but maybe in two or three, we’re going to be able to give support to bigger aircraft. It’s a strategic idea to get more business in the future if we’re already prepared with executive [jets].”
On staffing, Real says Aerocardal always find it difficult to compete with salaries paid by U.S. companies but have developed a career pathway that allows staff to take English lessons and travel to aircraft OEM’s home nations for specific training. Most staff also benefit from rostering that leaves most weekends free.
The newly formalized partnership with Embraer also simplifies sourcing of spares, though this is by no means a straightforward picture. Customs procedures mean it can take up to five days for an item to be imported from Brazil to Chile, so Aerocardal’s preference has been to source Embraer spares from the airframer’s Miami facility. Those deliveries are now subject to U.S. tariffs, with the additional costs being passed on to customers and itemized separately on the maintainer’s invoices. But Real is optimistic that discussions held with Embraer executives on signing the service center agreement may result in a workaround.
“We told them about how customs in Santiago works, and they told me how they do it in Brazil,” Real says. “We think that something that normally took five days to get out, we can now get in two days. We need some procedures [to be put in place] to expedite the shipment: if you have everything in place when you get the shipment to Santiago, it’s really easy. I think it’s hopefully going to be managed better than in the past.”
