The Ministry of Ports and Airports announced this Wednesday (8) that it has decided to revoke the resolution that limited flights arriving and departing from Santos Dumont airport to a radius of 400 km.
The ministry informed that the airport will not have destination restrictions, but must comply with a limit of up to 6.5 million passengers per year. The new rule will come into effect in January 2024.
According to the ministry, the revocation of the National Civil Aviation Council (Conac) rule will be published in the Official Gazette of the Union later this week.
In practice, Conac’s resolution limited flights to a radius of 400 km around Santos Dumont and prohibited connections with international airports. The measure would come into force on January 2, 2024.
The initiative was questioned at the Federal Audit Court (TCU) by the city of Guarulhos, where São Paulo’s international airport is located. It is also the subject of a civil action in Federal Court filed by the Brazilian Association for Economic Freedom (Able).
In practice, the revoked resolution only allowed the Rio-SP air bridge via Congonhas and flights to Vitória (ES) and Pampulha (MG), which led to legal questions.
The revoked resolution had been drawn up at the request of the Brazilian Airport Infrastructure Company (Infraero), which claimed that the initiative would improve the safety and fluidity of air traffic in Rio de Janeiro.
However, experts and passengers argued that the measure was unnecessary and would harm Santos Dumont, one of the busiest airports in Brazil.
Tags: Ministry revokes resolution limited flight routes Santos Dumont airport Economy
