Communications

31.3 - 06.04.2008
 
Santiago
 
378 exhibitors from 45 countries, 21,800 square metres of display space, and 134,000 visitors of whom more than 40,000 variously described as having business interests. These are the figures for the previous edition of FIDAE, the "Feria International Del Aire y del Espacio" held every two years in Santiago (Chile), and they clearly reflect the scale of the event which is certainly the largest trade fair in South America focusing on the avionics sector and its civil and military applications.
 
The 2008 edition of FIDAE is being held from March 31 to April 6 at Santiago's "Arturo Merino Benitez" airport. It sets out to exceed the results of the previous year, thereby confirming the event's importance, backed up by Chile's role as a large importer of technologies related to satellite communications and avionics.
The five traditional sectors - civil and commercial aviation, defence, aircraft maintenance, airport equipment and services, space technology - have now become six with the addition of homeland security.
 
The Finmeccanica companies taking part in the event are AgustaWestland, Alenia Aermacchi, Elsag Datamat, SELEX Communications, SELEX Sistemi Integrati, SuperJet International and Telespazio. This joint participation is a tangible sign of the integration which is now a distinctive feature of the Group's international presence, with the aim of promoting its level of excellence in the various business sectors on a strategically important market (according to the Foreign Trade Institute, Italy is Chile's fourth largest European trading partner, and one of the main foreign investors in the country).