Brazil plans to address its growing airport infrastructure challenge as the country's domestic market continues to expand rapidly.
The president of Brazil's civil aviation authority ANAC, Solange Paiva, told the 2010 ALTA Airline Leadership Forum the Brazilian government is "concerned about infrastructure and airports" and "in the first quarter of next year we need to make some kind of decision".
Paiva says the recent private concession to construct a new airport in Natal may be used as the model going forward to pursue other airport projects throughout Brazil. She says Brazil seeks to open up the airport sector to new players "so there's no monopoly or abuse" at existing operators and "so there's no barriers to enter the market".
Paiva pointed out the current infrastructure challenge was driven by deregulating the Brazilian market after Varig's collapse. Brazil's domestic market has since recorded some of the fastest growth figures in the world, including 19% RPK growth in 2009 and 25% RPK growth through the first 10 months of 2010. "This is the great challenge we have in aviation in Brazil - infrastructure," Pavia acknowledges.
TAM CEO Libano Barroso agrees, telling the same panel at the forum that "demand is growing fast and infrastructure is lagging that". But Barroso says the current infrastructure challenge is "a good problem to solve" given the profitable growth at Brazil's carriers.
Speaking to ATI and Flightglobal after speaking at the forum, Gol chief executive Constantino de Oliveira Junior says Brazil will need nine to ten new airports the size of Sao Paulo Guarulhos over the next 20 years "We need much more investment in airports and air traffic control to accommodate the growth," he says.
Oliveira expects the Brazilian government will start to focus on the issue as Brazil plans to host the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics. "That will be the chance for Brazil to give the world a good impression," he says.
In the meantime Oliveira says Gol is planning to focus growth outside Sao Paulo with "overflights" and expansion at other hubs such as Belo Horizonte's Confins airport. "At Confins, Brasilia and even Rio de Janeiro Gaeleao there's still room for growth," he says.
In Sao Paulo Oliveira believes a proposal to build a fourth airport after Guarulhos Congonhas and Campinas is not necessary as there is room to grow Campinas, where fast-growing low-cost carrier Azul is based and where Gol is also expanding. "In my opinion Campinas development is the right choice," Oliveira says, pointing out in addition to new terminals the alternative airport is slated to get a high-speed rail connection to downtown Sao Paulo.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
