Major airline industry groups are decrying a proposed Brazilian law that would require airlines to provide free checked and carry-on bags, a measure the groups characterise as a “serious threat” to airline competition and airfare affordability.
The law would also prevent carriers from charging for seat selection, require airlines to provide up to two additional seats for passengers requiring special assistance, and prohibit carriers from automatically cancelling return tickets when passengers miss outbound flights.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport Association (ALTA) said on 29 October that the bill before Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies would amount to “rigid pricing and operational restrictions” on both domestic and international flights. The law would apply to routes that either depart from or arrive in Brazilian cities.
However, the bill remains in a lower legislative chamber and has not yet become law. Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro vetoed a similar measure passed by the National Congress of Brazil in 2022.
IATA and ALTA say the law would effectively undermine the ”efficiency and flexibility essential for a sustainable air transport system” and call for Brazilian lawmakers to reconsider the bill and its likely effects.
Perda Cerda, who holds a double role as ALTA’s chief executive and IATA’s regional vice-president for the Americas, describes the proposed bags-fly-free law as “backward”, with the potential to drive up the price of air travel in Brazil.
“This bill moves Brazil backward at a time when aviation should be helping drive the country’s economic growth and regional integration,” Cerda says. ”By reintroducing outdated, one-size-fits-all rules on baggage and seating, the proposal risks reducing competition, limiting access to affordable fares and ultimately harming the very consumers it seeks to protect.”
The bill would require carriers to provide one free checked bag weighing up to 23kg (51lb) on both domestic and international flights, and a free carry-on of up to 12kg “regardless of aircraft type or route”, the groups say.
”These conditions lead to regulatory uncertainty and significant operational costs,” IATA and ALTA say. ”In an industry with already narrow margins, such mandatory costs will inevitably translate into higher fares, reduced frequencies and fewer routes, particularly impacting regional and low-cost operations that have democratised air travel in Brazil.”
During the recent ALTA conference in Lima, Cerda told FlightGlobal Latin American carriers have been fighting a perception that airlines are greedy, self-serving companies rather than vehicles for expanded mobility and economic activity. Essentially, governments often see airlines as cash cows to be exploited, Cerda says.
“There has been a thought here for many years that aviation is an industry that caters to the rich and the affluent,” he says. “Our message has been to governments that we are like any other mode of transportation, and that is how we would like to be treated.”
Cerda says the airline sector is not asking for favouritism over government-subsidised bus operators that remain popular throughout Latin America, but rather for transparent and collaborative decision-making that does not stifle Latin America’s growing industry. He points to airline success stories throughout the region that have been enabled by supportive governments.
”There are governments that understand the value of aviation like Panama, like Guatemala, like Ecuador,” he says. ”They have understood that air transportation brings business opportunities to their country.”
Other jurisdictions are moving in the other direction. Peru recently embraced a transit tax on international connections at Lima’s Jorge Chávez International airport, which airlines say will cut into profitability and erode Lima’s position as a major Latin American hub.
“The transit tax here in Lima will have a severe impact in a country that is still working hard to reach 2019 numbers,” he says.
