The concession process for Santos Dumont airport, in downtown Rio, took a new turn this Thursday (10th). The Minister of Infrastructure, Tarcísio Gomes de Freitas, announced the postponement of the auction of the terminal, now scheduled to be held in 2023, together with the Tom Jobim international airport, Galeão, also located in the state capital.
The idea is that both airports have the same operator.
The decision came after the concessionaire RIOGaleão announced that it had submitted a request to the federal government to return the airport located on Ilha do Governador.
The company justified the measure citing the impacts of the economic crisis and Covid-19 on the aviation sector. Galeão had been experiencing more difficulties than Santos Dumont in resuming operations.
“From the moment Galeão is being returned, it no longer makes sense to proceed with the Santos Dumont structure in isolation. We are going to study the two airports together”, said the minister during the press conference.
“We are going to do a new bidding, an 8th round. We will have the same operator from Galeão and Santos Dumont”, stated Tarcísio.
According to the minister, the joint concession of the two airports would address a concern of the productive sectors and the state government. “Now, we are going to qualify Galeão airport for re-bidding in the PPI (Investment Partnership Program),” he said.
Until the re-bidding is carried out, RIOGaleão will sign an amendment with the government to ensure the continuity of the operation, following quality and service provision requirements.
According to Tarcísio, there is a period of two years for the transition. During this period, the government and the concessionaire will make the final arrangements for the termination of the contract, which includes any compensation for investments made by the operator that have not yet been amortized.
The executive secretary of the Ministry of Infrastructure, Marcelo Sampaio, said that the return of the terminal should not be interpreted as a lack of interest on the part of the private sector in investments in Brazil. “There was a contract that was difficult to execute, with a high award [a ser paga] by the concessionaire”, he said.
Galeão was awarded to the private sector in 2013, with a bid of R$19 billion from a consortium that included Odebrecht, now Novonor. The value was almost four times greater than that defined in the public notice. The term of the contract would run until 2039.
RIOGaleão was already facing difficulties in sustaining the operation and renegotiated the payment of the grant in 2017. Even so, the forecast was that transfers to the government amounted to around R$ 1.1 billion in 2023, from R$ 1.2 billion per year from 2024 to 2028 and R$1.7 billion per year from 2029 until the end of the concession.
For the Minister of Infrastructure, this is the “last critical airport case” to be resolved, after the return of the Viracopos (SP) and São Gonçalo do Amarante (RN) terminals.
Currently, RIOgaleão is controlled by Changi Airports, from Singapore, which has 51%, while Infraero has the remaining 49%. The concessionaire stated that it will continue operating the terminal until a new operator is defined at auction by the federal government.
Santos Dumont was considered one of the crown jewels of the seventh round of airport concessions, next to Congonhas airport. The round is scheduled for the first half of this year. With the change, Santos Dumont’s process was postponed to 2023.
In recent months, the airport concession model, now managed by Infraero, has generated an exchange of barbs between Rio de Janeiro authorities and the federal government.
The state government of Rio de Janeiro and the city of Rio de Janeiro are in favor of the Santos Dumont concession, but have been contesting the transfer model to the private sector.
For local leaders, a big increase in the offer of flights in the terminal, after the auction, could generate a predatory competition with Galeão. The local assessment was that some level of restrictions would be necessary to expand the flow in Santos Dumont. This suggestion had been contested by the federal government.
The Ministry of Infrastructure and representatives of Rio had been discussing the Santos Dumont concession, whose auction was scheduled for the first half of this year, in a working group. The group meetings would go until the middle of this month.
This Thursday, Tarcísio announced that the new bidding will be made “from scratch”. According to him, as the two airports will be on the same block, the concern with a possible predatory competition “doesn’t make sense anymore”.
“As the two airports will be on the same block, this concern [com eventual competição predatória entre Galeão e Santos Dumont] no longer makes sense,” said the minister.
On social media, the governor of Rio de Janeiro, Cláudio Castro (PL), commented that the state is in a position to seek an “aligned re-bidding” for Galeão with Santos Dumont.
“With the decision by the Galeão concessionaire to hand over the airport, RJ and Brazil have a huge opportunity to make the re-bidding in line with the Santos Dumont concession. We will work to enhance the value of both airports and build the best result for the state” , wrote Castro.
In the city hall, the new bid for Galeão has reservations. The municipal secretary of Economic Development, Innovation and Simplification of Rio, Chicão Bulhões, assesses that the departure of the current concessionaire could harm the credibility of new concessions from the federal government.
Despite this, he says that the possibility of a joint auction with Santos Dumont is welcomed.
“Since the situation is set, we want maximum urgency for the new concession to be made. Rio de Janeiro cannot wait, it cannot remain in limbo, waiting for investments in its international airport,” said the secretary.
Less than 20 kilometers separate Santos Dumont from Galeão. Politicians and businessmen from Rio de Janeiro believe that Santos Dumont has the potential to attract domestic flights, but suffers from geographical limitations in downtown Rio.
Galeão 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. The terminal was planned to receive large aircraft and plays an important role in cargo logistics in the state.
In October 2021, the Asian Changi, controller of Galeão, stated that it intended to “strengthen the shareholding structure” of the venture and denied the intention to completely dispose of the terminal.
with Reuters
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