2023-04-24 22:41:29
© Reuters. Passengers arrive at the galleon, in Rio 12/21/2020 REUTERS/Pilar Olivares
RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) –
Infraero is expected to reduce its staff from 2,000 to 500 after completing the entire bureaucratic process of the seventh round of airport concessions, said the Secretary of Civil Aviation at the Ministry of Ports and Airports, Juliano Noman, this Monday.
The seventh round was held in 2022, the last year of the Jair Bolsonaro government, and included the concession of Congonhas airport, in São Paulo.
“In the concession of the seventh round, an amount is foreseen to pay Infraero’s PDV (Voluntary Resignation Program),” said Noman at an event in Rio de Janeiro, adding that these funds have already been deposited.
“The company already has cash in hand to proceed with the POS. The plan is that of the 2,000 employees, 500 will remain and then, with 500 employees and with Santos Dumont, the company would be totally sustainable”, he said.
Santos Dumont airport, in Rio de Janeiro, was even listed for the seventh round, but was later withdrawn due to fears of predatory competition effects on Galeão airport, also in Rio.
After the conclusion of the entire bureaucratic process of granting the terminals of the seventh round, Santos Dumont will be the only airport under the full administration of Infraero, which also maintains minority participation in terminals tendered to private initiative.
The state-owned company also has service provision contracts for ten regional airports, according to the secretary.
This “new” Infraero will play a key role in stimulating regional aviation in Brazil.
“The government wants to direct and organize Infraero to have a relevant role in regional aviation. With the resources received from the big airports, finance operation and construction in places less provided with infrastructure”, he said.
EMPTYING THE GALLEON
Representatives of the city and state governments of Rio de Janeiro are going to have a meeting with the Minister of Ports and Airports, Márcio França, to deal with the emptying of Galeão airport.
Rio authorities claim that Santos Dumont had a movement of around 10 million passengers in 2022, above the total capacity of the airport.
The Galeão concession took place in 2013, during the Dilma Rousseff government, after a successful bid of 19 billion reais. The concession has a term of up to 2039, but the operator Changi even expressed interest in returning the terminal due to the lack of prospects for demand. The Singapore company would have gone back and now awaits the outcome of negotiations between governments.
Governor Cláudio Castro and Mayor Eduardo Paes said this Monday that, if there is no solution to the crisis involving Galeão, they could take measures against Santos Dumont.
“This topic has already been debated too much. The airport (Santos Dumont) has to have its capacity limited to 6 million people. Final point. Galeão has to be the ‘hub’ of Rio”, said Paes. “One cannot cannibalize the other,” he added.
Castro said that if he and Paes leave the meeting with the ministry and realize “that there is no will to resolve it, the two of us will gather our team to find out what measures to take.” “But, as I said, we don’t want this meeting tomorrow to become a knife in the neck”, stated the governor.
(By Rodrigo Viga Gaier)
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