Dassault Aircraft Services (DAS) Sorocaba, its service centre in São Paulo, Brazil, recently celebrated its ten year anniversary. The 23,000 sq ft service centre has grown significantly in manpower, capabilities and spare parts inventory since its opening.

“Brazil has always been a very strong market for Dassault so expanding our service here was a natural extension of our 'whatever it takes' philosophy for our customers who are based in Brazil or who travel there often,” says chairman and CEO Eric Trappier. “We continue to invest in our company-owned service centre here to provide the industry-leading support our operators deserve and expect.”

Dassault expects to add technicians in 2019. Investments over the last year include adding tooling to perform 'B' level checks for Brazilian registered Falcons in the Falcon 7X and Falcon 2000 family, and the addition of a Pre-Purchase Evaluation (PPE) programme for those considering a pre-owned Falcon. The programme includes a thorough physical evaluation of the aircraft, systems operational checks and a detailed record research.

DAS Sorocaba holds repair station certification from Brazil's Agência Nacional de Aviação Civil (ANAC), the FAA, EASA as well as from airworthiness authorities in Argentina, Bermuda and Uruguay. It is authorised to perform line maintenance and most major inspections on the Falcon 50, 900 and 2000 series models, as well as the Falcon 7X and 8X.

In addition to airframe inspections and service, the facility can perform engine line maintenance on the CFE-738; Honeywell TFE731and Pratt & Whitney Canada PW307A, PW307D and PW308C models. It can also conduct specialised non-destructive testing (NDT) procedures such as penetrant and eddy current tests. A full service battery shop can repair, replace or charge main and emergency batteries on Falcon or other aircraft models.

DAS Sorocaba supports an AOG 'Go Team' to provide rapid mobile response directly to an aircraft location anywhere in South America with the parts and tools necessary to get a Falcon flying with minimal delay. The facility holds over nearly US$5 million in high usage parts located in both São Paulo and Sorocaba. The facility can also hangar up to four Falcons.

The continued investment and growth surrounding Sorocaba's ten-year anniversary comes on the heels of major acquisitions earlier this year that dramatically expanded the company's global customer service footprint. In January, Dassault Aviation purchased the MRO activities of ExecuJet, strengthening the company's presence in Asia-Pacific, Oceania, the Middle-East and Africa. In February, it acquired the MRO activities of TAG Aviation, bolstering its European service center network. Dassault also continues to reinforce its customer support network in China and the surrounding region.