Lula’s minister says that air tickets for R$200 “would be insane”

The Minister of Ports and Airports, Silvio Costa Filho, stated that air tickets for R$200, the amount initially planned for the Voa Brasil program, “would be insane”. Costa Filho said that there was a disagreement about the proposal and the perception of the population and the press regarding the initiative.

“The important thing is not just what is said, but what people understand. At that moment, the way it was conveyed by sectors of the press and Brazilian society, due to social networks, the Brazilian people thought that the ticket would be R$ 200. It would be insane for us to design a program of this nature”, stated the minister this Monday (18) in an interview with the Roda Viva program, on TV Cultura.

On January 9th of this year, Costa Filho himself even mentioned the value of R$200 for the tickets provided for in the program when announcing the initiative’s audience.

“We hope that the president will be able to announce, now at the end of January, at the beginning of February at the latest, a R$200 ticket program, which will be for two specific audiences at first, the INSS retirees public, who reaches around 20 million Brazilians, and also for Prouni students, which reaches 600 thousand students”, said the minister after a meeting with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) on the occasion.

At the end of February, Costa Filho adjusted his speech after negotiations about the program and stated that it would not be viable to offer the promotional value to all Brazilians. “In Brazil, we would not be able to offer tickets for R$200 to everyone overnight,” said the minister.

After the launch was postponed numerous times, the criteria for Voa Brasil have already been authorized by Lula and the program should be made official at the end of this month, according to Costa Filho. During this Monday’s interview, the minister stated that the first stage will benefit 21 million INSS retirees, who earn up to 2 minimum wages, and 700 thousand ProUni students.

Airlines will make 5 million tickets available without “any real from the Treasury”, highlighted Costa Filho. In December, the three main companies operating in Brazil – Azul, Gol and Latam, which together hold a 99.6% market share – announced a plan to offer 25 million airline tickets for prices between R$699 and R$ 799.