Brasília – According to Brazil’s Civil Aviation Secretariat, over the course of three and a half years, a combined R$ 401.6 million (US$ 179.9 million) have been invested in 40 regional airports throughout the country. Another R$ 378 million (US$ 169 million) are being disbursed as part of the Regional Aviation Plan, which provides for improvements to be made at 270 regional airports in Brazil. “Our priority is the Regional Aviation Development Program. The program has a few goals. The main one is ensuring that 95% of Brazilians are less than 100 kilometres away from an airport,” said the secretariat’s minister Moreira Franco.
Monday (28th) saw the enactment of Provisional Measure 652, establishing the Regional Aviation Development Program. Within the first year, the minister forecasts R$ 1 billion (US$ 447 million) in subsidies and R$ 7.2 billion (US$ 3.2 billion) in investment from the National Fund for Civil Aviation.
The program should lead to an increase in flight frequencies for regularly operated regional routes, and in the number of cities and routes covered by regular passenger flights. A survey has shown that one of the main issues in regional aviation is spreading out costs among a limited number of passengers, especially at lower income areas. In order to gain access to subsidies so they can operate flights at regional airports, airlines will be required to adhere to the program.
“The subsidies will cover half the [aircraft] seats, but will be limited to a maximum of 60 seats. We will not subsidize flights between capitals, only those departing from or arriving at one of the 270 regional airports covered by the program. The exact figures are pending regulation (as per the Provisional Measure), but North Brazil will certainly enjoy higher subsidies, considering its peculiarities,” Moreira Franco said.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
