Brasília – Brazil’s Ports and Airports Minister Silvio Costa Filho announced on Monday (18) the first step of the Universalization of Air Transport Program, with strategies to bring down airfares and operation costs in Brazil in 2024.
The three leading measures announced by Costa Filho includes the construction of 120 new airports in Brazil by 2026, when the federal government expects to transport up to 150 million passengers. The minister pointed out the work is being carried out alongside local regulator Anac.
“By 2026 we’ll see private investments of over BRL 6 billion [USD 1.2 billion], and we want to build over 120 new and modernized public and private airports in the country over the next three to four years.”
Voa Brasil
Costa Filho also stressed that his ministry works together with the Ministry of Mines and Energy to bring down the process of aviation kerosene, which accounts for 36% of the airfare prices in Brazil. He said Petrobras has lowered the fuel’s price by 19% in 2023 compared to 2022.
The minister said that the Voa Brasil program will be officially announced on the second half of January 2024, then specific parts of the society will be benefited by the offering of more affordable air tickets. “Voa Brasil is another program we’ll pursue to provide more affordable tickets for the Brazilian people, for certain segments of society.”
Aviation growth
During the press conference, minister Silvio Costa Filho predicted that the number of international and domestic passengers in airports across the country will have risen from 98 million in 2022 to over 115 million in 2023. “We are talking about an over 15% growth rate of Brazilian aviation in 2023.”
He added that the Brazilian government has focused on increasing the number of international visitors. “Last year we had 2 million foreign tourists who came to visit Brazil. This year we are seeing over 4 million. We’re more than doubling it by 2 million the number of international passengers in the country. This speaks of the effort we’ve tried to develop to bring in new international flights from airlines that come to operate here, international airlines, and low-cost flights, which we expected to widen in 2024 together with the Ministry of Tourism.
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
