A hundred and sixty representatives from airlines, government, aerospace companies, academia and finance attended Embraer’s 5th annual Latin America & Caribbean Airline Business Seminar in São José dos Campos from May 10 to 13. This year’s event was co-sponsored by SITA and Sabre Airline Solutions.

Every year, Embraer’s Latin America and Caribbean commercial aviation team hosts a conference in which participants share information about current subjects and trends in air transportation. The company also invites guest speakers to present their views on issues that are facing today’s airline decision makers.

Paulo César de Souza e Silva, President, Commercial Aviation for Embraer, welcomed the seminar delegates and in- troduced the nineteen guest presenters from both North and South America. Over the course of the three-day program, delegates had an opportunity to ask experts about airport infrastructure, asset leasing, aircraft finance, airline mergers, traffic projections, fuel price, economic trends, emerging technologies and fleet planning.

A local view of competition was presented by Pedro Janot, the president of Azul Linhas Aéreas Brasileiras, whose airline has transformed domestic air transport in Brazil. The CFO of Aerolineas Argentinas, Mr. Pablo Ceriani, talked about fleet rightsizing. Both Michael Linenberg of Deutsche Bank and Nawal Taneja from Ohio State University reviewed their perspectives on the outlook for airline economics, trends and challenges facing the region. MIT’s Peter Belobaba described advances in airline revenue management. Alex De Gunten of ALTA and Patricio Sepulveda from IATA updated all the participants with news about the regional market and the competitive landscape.

Seminar participants toured Embraer’s commercial and executive aircraft assembly lines as well as the company’s historical center, delivery hangar, paint shop and flight readiness facilities.