Brazil UNDER PRESSURE
While air services continue to expand, Brazil is under tremendous pressure to upgrade and improve its entire air transport system and infrastructure ahead of the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games, writes Lucy Siebert. According to the Financial Times, the Brazilian government is now championing plans for a management shake-up at state-owned airport operator Infraero, ahead of a planned public listing. The newspaper quoted Brazilian fi nance minister, Guido Mantega, as saying this would allow the management of some of Brazil’s key gateways to be handed over to private airport operators. This comes after IATA director general and CEO, Giovanni Bisignani, publicly slammed the state of Brazil’s airports at the Latin America and Caribbean Air Transport Association (ALTA) Leadership Forum in late 2010. “Brazil is Latin America’s fastest growing aviation market but its infrastructure is not keeping pace with the growth in demand. Of the top 20 airports in Brazil, 13 don’t have terminals that can meet today’s demands. I don’t see much progress and the clock is ticking. To avert a national embarrassment, we must get all the stakeholders to the table and fi nalise a plan,” Bisignani said. Part of the shake-up has included IATA’s appointment of Carlos Ebner as country director to Brazil. Since then, SITA has revealed that it has been picked by the Brazilian Department of Airspace Control (DECEA) to update Brazil’s entire network infrastructure dedicated to air-ground VHF Data Link (VDL) communication – the fi rst concession contract awarded by the state organisation for an essential civil aviation service. SITA said this would enable the exchange of air traffi c control data-link messages between aircraft and air traffi c control systems, as well as between airlines and their airline operational centres.
Nonetheless, TAM would be able to add São Paolo frequencies, which will not be available to its US rivals, and it may face more competition in other markets. American Airlines already has the strongest position in the Brazil market and is likely to gain none of the new Rio de Janeiro frequencies in 2011 and few in 2012. It might be able to add some Miami frequencies to Brasilia or Tancredo Neves, bringing those services closer to daily and gaining a scheduling advantage over TAM. Delta will wish to build Atlanta frequencies to Rio de Janeiro and possibly some to other airports, bringing Atlanta on par with Miami. United has a number of options as it sorts out its many international gateways, but Houston seems the most likely choice because routes from Texas and the west are less competitive than the east. For US Airways, the Brazil market will be more diffi cult than before and it seems unlikely it will seek authority for other markets, but it may seek authority to bring Charlotte Douglas–Rio de Janeiro to a daily service. Meanwhile, most of the Brazil routes are too long for the current LCC fl eets. One of them could expand into longer-haul aircraft within fi ve years but it would be unlikely to move much capacity into Brazil, as it will by then be a competitive market.
At the end of 2015, when frequency limitations are set to expire, São Paulo’s infrastructure problems should be at least mitigated and the market should have continued to grow. There are likely to be at least three – and possibly as many as fi ve – signifi cant US–Brazil gateways offering service to and from São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and some of the other markets: certainly Miami, probably Atlanta and Houston and possibly Dallas/Fort Worth or New York.
www.routesonline.com
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