Fuente: ALTA

On this second edition of Flying Over Latin America and the Caribbean we land in Brazil, the country where I was born, the ninth largest economy in the world (World Bank 2019),, the second most competitive country in terms of availability of natural resources according to the World Economic Forum (WEF 2019), the sixth country with the biggest domestic traffic in the world (2019) and one of the few countries that did not close its skies in 2020 with 44 million passengers carried on 284 thousand flights during the year.

Brazil is a continental country with a wonderful but intricate geography, which makes the development of the air network essential to connect millions of people. In addition to metropolises such as São Paulo, Salvador, Rio de Janeiro or Porto Alegre, Brazil has an important domestic market that is constantly growing thanks to the economic and social benefits that aviation is capable of bring to more places, even remote ones.

Since 2012, Brazil has the Brazilian Airline Association (ABEAR), created with the mission of stimulating the habit of flying in the country. It is currently joined by ABAETÉ, GOL, LATAM, LATAM Cargo, RIMA and VOEPASS and is chaired by Eduardo Sanovicz, a graduate in history, with master’s and doctorate in Communication Sciences from the University of São Paulo (USP) and professor of tourism at the Faculty of Arts, Sciences and Humanities of USP.

Eduardo has extensive experience in tourism, events and development of the travel and tourism sector. On this occasion, we share some ideas about aviation in the country:

Brazil was one of the few markets in the region that did not close the skies. What impact did this have on the commercial aviation market?

This was very positive to show the commitment of the Brazilian aviation with the country and, above all, our ability to have a policy to cope with the crisis. While in the rest of the planet almost all aviation stopped, in Brazil we kept all the capitals connected at the worst moment of the crisis, with 8% of the network available. This made possible, in the first place, to contribute to the repatriation of all the people who were outside, whose companies had stopped flying. Then, right away, we were able to implement a free transportation program for healthcare professionals. Later, equipment, medicines and then vaccines were also carried free of charge, since we resumed operations after the implementation of the health protocols. I believe that this gave credibility to Brazilian aviation and placed us as one of the important interlocutors between the economic sectors of the country.

How do the restrictions of other countries affect the entry of Brazilians to the commercial aviation market in the country?

Restrictions affect us a lot. Today Brazil is the country that has the second highest volume of restrictions on the entry of its passengers in other countries. South Africa, according to the last number I saw, had 116 countries with some kind of restriction and Brazilians, 114 countries. The way in which the different countries of the world react to the information that comes from Brazil affects us consequently. That is why we will have the challenge of rebuilding the image of the country. This is something that cannot be solved with a pen. One of the challenges that we will face will be the construction of a program for the resumption of domestic tourism and also international, outbound and inbound. Therefore, there is a direct impact, which should take two to three years to overcome.

You have extensive experience in tourism, what do you think will change in the way of doing tourism in Brazil and how should the country prepare?

There are already some impacts on the tourist chain. For example, those trips exclusively for business, such as leaving São Paulo for a 2-3 hour meeting in another city and then returning; much of this segment will be virtual. People will prefer online meetings. This represents a significant part of aviation billing and demand. What must remain are corporate travels linked to events, so it is essential that the events sector is strengthened to try to supply a part. Leisure trips will also continue, initially, with closer destinations: 1h30 to 2 hours flights. What will emerge is another segment, people who, although they are working normally, have discovered that they can spend five, six days or a week away from home working remotely in a place where they go from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. to the beach and the children have a part-time walk. Therefore, it will be a new profile and we will have to prepare ourselves by offering competitive products and services, with appropriate prices for the destinations that are in demand. I believe that this will have a strong internal weight and, in a second moment, Latin American and then international.

How do you see the opportunities to work together ABEAR – ALTA?

I see it very positively. This pandemic showed us a series of guidelines in which joint and coordinated action was useful for the sector. Two relevant examples are the consolidation of JET A and the program to review the extreme judicialization environment, in which ABEAR and ALTA, with the support also of IATA and Jurcaib, acted together.

During the 2020 health emergency, aviation played a critical role in the timely transportation of necessary supplies. There is no doubt that the airline industry will continue to play a key role in achieving recovery of destinations; bring opportunities and jobs to more places. The articulated work between aviation and tourism is now more important than ever to ensure that the entire value chain communicates effectively with the population, break existing fears and barriers and offer safe and memorable experiences.

Thank you for reading.

Until a next flight,

Jose Ricardo Botelho

Executive Director & CEO

ALTA