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Brazil | bloomberg.com
November 07, 2006
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Brazil Air Travel Slows as Controllers Protest Jet-Crash Probe |
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 Nov. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Brazil's central bank president, Henrique Meirelles, canceled a congressional appearance in Brasilia last week because only one of more than 40 legislators scheduled to attend could get a flight to the capital on time.
In Rio de Janeiro, customers broke equipment at a Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes SA check-in counter as delays lasted as long as 20 hours. In Belo Horizonte, Brazil's third-largest city, passengers tiring of waiting tried to force their way down a ramp and onto a plane. Some airports have limited takeoffs to only one every half hour.
The chaos is the result of a work slowdown by Brazil's air traffic controllers, who are protesting the suspension of 10 colleagues under investigation in connection with the Sept. 29 airliner crash over the Amazon. It was the worst aviation disaster in the nation's history, killing 154 people.
It's unfortunate that we had to have the unimaginable tragedy of the crash and the terrible inconveniences Brazilians are going through to finally bring the government's attention to this,'' said Heloisa Helena, a senator from the Solidarity and Freedom Party, who was delayed 17 hours on Nov. 2 for a flight from Brasilia to Maceio, the capital of Alagoas state.
Union leaders said air traffic controllers are overworked and reduced the number of flights they monitor at one time to a maximum of 14, from as many as 20. Defense Minister Waldir Pires agreed after a meeting Nov. 1 to cut their workload by as much as 30 percent.
Mid-Air Collision
On Sept. 29, Gol Flight 1907 collided with a Legacy 600 corporate jet en route to the U.S. from the headquarters of the manufacturer, Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica SA. The commercial airliner plummeted into the jungle, killing everyone on board, while the Legacy landed safely. Immediately afterward, air traffic controllers were suspended from duty and subpoenaed by police, according to the Defense Ministry.
The suspension is standard during accident investigations, said Major Adolfo Aleixo, an Air Force press office official in Brasilia. The controllers delayed their testimony, citing illness, and now are scheduled to speak with police Nov. 15, Aleixo said.
The probe initially focused on the executive jet. It was flying at 37,000 feet (11,300 meters) when, according to Brazilian aviation rules and its flight plan, it should have been flying at an altitude of 36,000 feet (11,000 meters), according to Folha de S. Paulo newspaper. The two U.S. pilots of the Legacy remain in custody in Brazil.
In recent weeks, investigators have increased scrutiny of controllers in Brasilia who were responsible for the airspace where the collision occurred, reviving debate about their workload, Aleixo said.
Bringing Back Retirees
Pires unveiled a plan Nov. 1 to ease the flight delays by recalling retired air traffic controllers and updating their skills. Jorge Botelho, president of the national air traffic safety workers' union, told reporters in Brasilia after meeting with Pires that doing so would be unsafe.
Failure to get authorization for flights prompted Tam SA, Brazil's biggest domestic airline, to suspend ticket sales through its call center on Nov. 2. The airline was forced to cancel more than 30 flights last week, including 23 on Nov. 2, a national holiday, spokeswoman Anahi Guedes said.
"We're trying as best we can to ease the inconveniences for passengers and make the situation more bearable,'' Guedes said.
Brazil needs at least 500 more air traffic controllers to ease congestion and make the airways safe, said Jorge Nunes de Oliveira, president of the air traffic controllers union of Rio de Janeiro. Brazil, which encompasses more than half the land in South America, has 2,700 military personnel and 500 civilians managing its airspace.
Government Warned
Helena, who came in third in October presidential elections, said the government is to blame for the chaos, not the air traffic controllers. She said congressional committees and unions repeatedly have warned the government about a shortage of controllers
"It's revealed the incompetence of the government,". she said in a telephone interview from Alagoas.
In June, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's government canceled recruitment examinations for hiring 154 controllers, Aleixo said.
The delays also exacerbate a reduction of air service caused by the bankruptcy of Viacao Aerea Rio-Grandense SA, or Varig, the dominant Brazilian carrier and largest Latin American airline until late 2005, and efforts by Lula's government to scale back military control over civilian air travel. Brazil, the world's fifth-most-populous nation, has about 190 million people. Lula won re-election on Oct. 29.
While most air traffic controllers are military officers and are legally prohibited from striking, many have been working more hours than allowed by law, Aleixo said. They also have a long history of grievances about low pay, conflict between military and civilian control, and the lack of enough controllers to handle traffic safely, he said.
I've been very concerned about my travel,"Vitor Cruz, 22, a sailor in the Brazilian navy who was traveling to visit his girlfriend in Goias, said in Rio de Janeiro's city airport Nov. 3. ``I don't have a lot of time to lose."
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