Brazilian agricultural aviation grows 3.4% in 2021

Brazilian agricultural aviation reached a fleet of 2,432 aircraft – 2,409 planes and 23 helicopters, according to a study obtained by AgroPages. With an increase of 80 new devices as against the previous year, the sector grew 3.40%.

The data is part of the Brazilian Agricultural Aircraft Fleet survey, prepared by the entity's former director and consultant Eduardo Cordeiro de Araújo with the Brazilian Aeronautical Registry (RAB), of the National Civil Aviation Agency (Anac).

As a result, Brazil maintains its position as the second largest agricultural air force on the planet, behind only the United States (which has more than 3,600 aircraft) and ahead of countries such as Argentina, Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, New Zealand, and others.

In addition to the report on fleet growth, Araújo also researched the distribution of aircraft among types of agricultural air operators; in this case, with a study on Brazilian Agricultural Aviation Operators.

Also, considering the sector’s situation at the beginning of 2022, the survey pointed out that 860 agricultural aircraft (35.36% of the fleet) belong to 758 private operators (TPP category, which includes farmers, cooperatives or production companies that have their own aircraft).

The aero-agricultural companies (SAE category, which are service providers for third parties) have 1,541 aircraft or 63.36% of the total.

Among the 31 aircraft remaining in the account (1.29%) are devices from governments or federal or state agencies, in addition to a prototype and instructional aircraft. This includes, for example, planes belonging to the Fire Departments of Goiás and Mato Grosso (configured to fight fires), those used by the Air Force Academy and devices from the six agricultural pilot training schools in the country.

At first glance, the number of 80 new agricultural aircraft entering the Brazilian market in 2021 would have been below the growth projected by Sindag in October last year, based on data obtained from manufacturers in Brazil and the United States. At that time, the aero-agricultural union had announced the projection and an increase of around 130 aircraft in the fleet by the end of the year – a growth of more than 4%.

However, Araújo pointed out that the entity may not have been entirely wrong. This is because, despite having considered only the new 80 aircraft registered in the RAB, it detected another 70 aircraft in situations of mark reservation, which is the first step towards registration. That is a situation that applies in the case of planes or helicopters ordered for 2021 but whose manufacturers were unable to deliver in the same year.

(Editing by Leonardo Gottems, reporter for AgroPages)