Dallas Airmotive's engine MRO business in Brazil has bounced back in 2018 after a poor 2015 and slowly recovering 2016/17, the company reported at LABACE. Whereas airframe MRO work is often dictated by the calendar, engine MRO work is directly governed by how many hours that aircraft are flying and is thus an excellent thermometer with which to monitor the health of the business aviation fleet.

Organized as a business unit within BBA Aviation, Dallas Airmotive specializes in the maintenance, repair, and overhaul of small turbines that power a range of business aircraft and helicopters, plus auxiliary power units. The company operates at numerous locations and is authorized by OEMs such as General Electric, Honeywell, Pratt & Whitney Canada, and Rolls-Royce.

In Brazil, Dallas Airmotive opened an engine shop in Belo Horizonte in 2009 to perform line and medium MRO across a range of engine types. The facility is the only Honeywell-authorized service center in the country, and the TFE731 turbofan and the ubiquitous Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A represent the most numerous engine types to be worked on. Honeywell’s HTF7000 range is the largest engine to be serviced in the Brazilian facility.

Dallas Airmotive also operates in Brazil as an authorized PWC service center, sharing this task with Pratt & Whitney’s own Sorocaba facility. With both PT6As and JT15Ds serving in large numbers in Brazil, there is sufficient work to keep both centers busy.