In Return for Votes, President Temer Promises Not to Privatize Congonhas Airport

10/20/2017 - 10h59

President Michel Temer promised former congressman Valdemar Costa Neto that he would remove Congonhas airport in São Paulo from his package of privatizations in return for his party's support in the upcoming vote in Congress on whether or not to accept charges brought forward by the Prosecutor General's Office.

Mr. Costa Neto is one of the main leaders of the PR (Party of the Republic) - a party which, despite internal disputes, was given prominent positions in the transportation sector .

Infraero is the state-run company that administers Brazil's commercial airports, the most lucrative of which is Congonhas.

Following several political disputes, as well as pressure exerted by the Ministry of Finance, which needs to rake in revenues and balance the budget, the Ministry of Transportation and Infraero both agreed to put Congonhas on sale and went as far as to officially announce the move.

Once the decision had been made, talk of also privatizing all other airports administered by Infraero began to surface behind the scenes: without its "crown jewel", the state-run company would have to start relying on federal funds.

At the same time, Mr. Costa Neto used his political influence to try and get the decision reversed.

Sources who participated in the deliberations said that, on top of the votes to bar the charges in Congress, President Temer maintained that if it could no longer count on Congonhas, Infraero would need an additional R$ 400 million (US$ 126 million), but no such federal funds are available.

Congonhas is responsible for a significant amount of Infraero's revenues: almost 15%. To put this in perspective, the company's second-most lucrative airport is Santos Dumont, in Rio, which is responsible for 8% of the company's revenues.

Translated by THOMAS MATHEWSON

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	Reprodução
	Brazil's President Michel Temer