The current economic downturn, however, has slowed plans of some to add new facilities. Early this year, Brazil's Gol expected to double its maintenance facilities at Confins International Airport in Belo Horizonte by June so its staff could support 120 aircraft a year, up from 60 now. The eight-year-old airline currently operates 108 Boeing 737 aircraft and maintains them in two existing hangars at Confins, located in Minas Gerais state in southeastern Brazil. Plans changed, says Francisco Eustáquio Mendes, Gol's maintenance director.

"We were advised to reduce the speed in which we were doing things in face of the contraction of the market and the need for investing in other projects that were considered to be more urgent," he says. "So, we postponed the conclusion of the first phase of construction."

That project, including Gol's third hangar, 262 ft. by 262 ft. in size, should be ready in January. Opening the third hangar in 2009 was not critical, Mendes maintains. Gol is renewing its fleet by replacing nine remaining 737-300s this year with new 737-NGs and even replacing its early, leased 737NGs with brand new ones. "That allows us to breathe a little before we get very deep into heavy maintenance," he adds.

Gol's planned fourth hangar, with the same dimensions as the third, is set to come on line in 2011, accommodating both future expansion of Gol's fleet and also space Gol will use "as a service provider," Mendes says. "We are just doing our own airplanes now but have been contacted by many airlines, in Brazil and other parts of South America, to do their checks...so hangar 4 is something we are looking forward to--to march into a new business and...produce some revenue from our maintenance complex."

Each new hangar, he notes, can accommodate "up to five 737s or one large airplane--a Boeing 777 or 787 or Airbus A350--you name it," Mendes says.

Capacity in Latin America is a limiting factor for airframe MRO growth, according to Jonathan Berger, who follows Latin American MRO closely as VP and MRO team leader for air transport consultancy SH&E. He still expects Latin America to be one of the fastest growing regions for MRO with a compound annual growth rate of 3.9%--to about $3 billion in 2016--but adds: "I would say it has leveled off, primarily due to capacity constraints. It's one of the bigger issues."

This is true for both independent MROs and some airlines with MRO facilities, Berger says. There is too little narrowbody MRO capacity in the region, he suggests, and a particular dearth of widebody capacity.

At the same time, Latin American MROs have competitive advantages, including lower direct operating costs, Berger points out. Maintenance ferry flights to the region also would cost operators less and have a reduced environmental impact than ferry flights to Asia. These benefits offer a real opportunity for Latin American MROs to attract North American operators of widebody aircraft, Berger asserts. "Most North American carriers that outsource their widebodies are going to Asia, and I contend the reason is that there is no widebody capacity in Latin America," he says. "I believe that's a business opportunity. So the issue here with Latin American growth is capacity."

PAE, an ST Aerospace company, has narrowbody capacity coming on line. Located at the former U.S. Howard Air Force Base, PAE expects to commission a fourth hangar at the end of this year, according to Tay Kok Khiang, president of ST Aerospace. Its current three each can house three narrowbody aircraft.