Flávio Bolsonaro opposes allies and defends Santos Dumont concession

Senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ) defended the Santos Dumont airport concession model proposed by the federal government, against political allies in Rio de Janeiro who criticize the project.

In a video posted on his social media, the senator, son of President Jair Bolsonaro, said that the claim that the project harms Galeão international airport is false. This perception is defended by Governor Cláudio Castro (PL) and Senator Carlos Portinho (PL-RJ), allies of Bolsonaro.

“The problem with the Galeão airport is not and never was Santos Dumont. Anyone who says this is ignorant of the numbers, the history of the Galeão tender, and Rio de Janeiro itself. […] The movement loss in Galeão is directly proportional to the movement loss in Rio as a whole. This is due to the state’s economic decline,” he said.

The fear in the state is that the investments made in Santos Dumont will make the operation of Galeão unfeasible, important for cargo logistics in the state and source of 17 thousand direct and indirect jobs.

Anac (National Civil Aviation Agency) approved at the end of last year the draft notice for the concession of Santos Dumont. The government did not promote changes expected by politicians from Rio de Janeiro in order to prevent what they consider “predatory competition” between the two airports in the city.

The public notice provides for a minimum grant of R$ 324 million and investments of R$ 1.3 billion in the airport in order to give it greater capacity to operate flights. The company that wins the Santos Dumont will also have to manage the airports of Jacarepaguá (RJ), Montes Claros, Uberlândia and Uberaba (MG).

Politicians and businessmen in the state believe that, by attracting more flights, Santos Dumont makes the operation of Galeão unfeasible, without the ability to replace it as an international hub and cargo destination in the state.

It is the first time that the senator is openly in favor of the concession. Politicians from Rio de Janeiro complained about the lack of action by the president’s son in favor of the state.

The governor stated that he considered the concession model a “threat to the development of the state”. He stated that he intends to take the discussion to Justice, if the Union does not impose limits on flights on Santos Dumont.

The Legislative Assembly canceled, by means of a legislative decree, an environmental license granted by the state government for a work on Santos Dumont. The objective was to undermine the attractiveness of the auction — without the interventions, the airport cannot increase the number of flights per hour from 23 to 30.

The argument put forward by Flávio is the same as that of the national secretary of Civil Aviation, Ronei Saggioro, according to which Galeão and Santos Dumont do not compete for the same types of flight. For them, the recovery of the international airport depends on the economic recovery in the state.

“When will Rio have another opportunity like this? Instead of working against Santos Dumont’s concession, thinking it’s helping Galeão, and in fact it’s not solving the problem, let’s work together to benefit our Rio de Janeiro now . With dialogue with President Bolsonaro, who is from Rio and has every interest in helping the state”, said the senator.

For the president’s son, the Galeão concession contract may be revised due to the impacts of the pandemic. Currently, RIOgaleão pays approximately R$ 1.3 billion annually in grants. The senator declared, however, that there are flaws in the agreement.

“Perhaps things will improve a little with the long-term rebalancing due to Covid. But it will not be enough to give the business financial sustainability. So, there is a problem related to the old contract, which does not stop, and did not start with the pandemic,” he said.

Located in the center of Rio de Janeiro, experts believe that Santos Dumont has the capacity to attract a large number of domestic flights. It, however, has geographic limitations in its expansion to receive larger planes, used in international flights.

Galeão, designed to receive large aircraft, is located on Ilha do Governador, far from other neighborhoods in the metropolitan region, whose road connection is the Linha Vermelha, a frequent location for traffic and shootings.

A study by Firjan (Federation of Industries of Rio de Janeiro) states that an airport needs six domestic flights for each international one to become viable. For the entity, the model of the public notice makes Santos Dumont unfeasible the necessary connectivity of the national air network of Galeão.

At the same time, Santos Dumont does not have the capacity to manage and store the cargo currently handled at the international airport. Galeão accounted for 86% of this service between 2004 and 2019, according to Firjan. Without it, businessmen project an increase in the cost of logistics for receiving and sending products in the state.

“It is important that there is intelligence so that there is no predatory dispute. The tariffs will be higher. We cannot allow a cost increase for the user. It will affect not only passengers, but all people who consume products arriving by plane”, said Mauro Viega, president of Firjan’s Business Infrastructure Council.

Anac data indicate that Galeão has been facing more difficulties to resume the pre-pandemic level of operation than Santos Dumont.