Brazil has 2,280 agrochemical application aircraft, states survey
Date:03-02-2020
By Leonardo Gottems, Reporter for AgroPages
Sindag (National Union of Agricultural Aviation Companies) released a study, which stated that the Brazilian agricultural aviation began 2020 with 2,280 aircraft (2,265 airplanes and 15 helicopters), and a growth of 3.99% in the fleet, which saw 86 aircraft in 2019.
According to Sindag, this performance also indicates the maintenance of the growth pace in 2018, when the fleet (with 2,194 aircraft) saw an increase of 3.74% compared with the previous year (more than double the 2017 figure of 1.54%). The data was obtained by the agronomist and consultant at Sindag Eduardo Cordeiro de Araújo at the Brazilian Aeronautical Registry of the National Civil Aviation Agency.
The Brazilian Agricultural Aircraft Fleet - 2019 study also covers the number of aero-agricultural companies (SAE-AG category, which are service providers to producers), which went from 253 in 2018 to 267 this year - an increase of 5.13% (higher than the 3.7% growth in 2018). The final report of the survey - with Araújo's technical comments and the closure of some secondary data - will be published on the 21st on the Sindag website.
Among the 23 states (plus the Federal District) with agricultural aviation, those with the greatest fleet growth were Mato Grosso, which received 26 aircraft in 2019; São Paulo, with 15 more aircraft; Pará, with 12 more, and Rio Grande do Sul, with 9 more. In the state-wise ranking, Mato Grosso remained at the top, with 520 planes. Second was Rio Grande do Sul, with 436 planes, while São Paulo was third in the fleet of airplanes and helicopters, with 332 aircraft.
The Brazilian Embraer continues to lead among the agricultural aircraft manufacturers, with 56.75% of the fleet in the Brazilian market, with its variants of the Ipanema aircraft. It is the project of the 70s, of a plane with a piston engine, which launched its seventh generation (Ipanema 203) in 2015 and since 2004, leaves the factory powered by ethanol (Ipanema 202 A).
Brazil continues to have the second largest agricultural air force on the planet, after only the Americans, who own some 3,600 aircraft (85% planes and 15% helicopters), according to the United States National Agricultural Aviation Association. The country is still ahead of Mexico (2,000 aircraft), Argentina (1200 aircraft), New Zealand and Australia (300 aircraft each), among others.