Without relief fund, airlines will not operate Voa Brasil – 02/04/2024 – Panel SA

At the meeting with Lula scheduled for this week, the airlines will reinforce the request made to the Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, for at least R$3 billion in credit lines. Without this, there will be no Voa Brasil program, postponed again until the government manages to resolve the impasse.

Although BNDES has not yet sat at the table, it will be up to the bank to provide two lines of credit. This is what is stated in the plan being prepared by the Ministry of Finance.

The idea is to create a sector fund of up to R$3 billion that will be managed by BNDES. It can be accessed in two ways.

Companies that have guarantees to present will be able to enjoy lower rates on loans with the bank. Those that don’t have it will use the fund as a guarantor to take out credit from the market. Today, they claim that they cannot obtain resources in the capital market, which makes the situation even more difficult.

Initially the government was not inclined to give in, but the situation changed after Gol’s request for judicial recovery in the USA.

The meeting with President Lula, however, will only take place if there is a prior agreement between Finance, Ports and Airports and Petrobras, which is at the center of the criticism made by the airlines.

At last week’s meeting, the oil company was harshly criticized by airlines, who complained about alleged price abuse in QAV (aviation kerosene). They showed graphs indicating the decoupling between oil and aviation kerosene (QAV) prices in the first quarter of this year.

In the presentation at Palácio do Planalto, Azul showed that aviation fuel is far above diesel, a fuel refined from the same molecule, but which had very different price behavior.

This generated a strong reaction from the president of the state-owned company, Jean Paul Prates, who, in an interview, restricted the problem to Azul.

This week, the companies released a letter signed by their associations in response to the statement. The message will be clear: the price of fuel, which currently represents more than 80% of the cost of the ticket, is a sectoral problem.

According to them, even with the 17% drop in QAV under this government, the price is double what it should be and far above countries like the USA, Portugal and even Switzerland, one of the most expensive places in the world.

The issue mobilized the economic team, which is currently finalizing aid for the sector, which went through the pandemic without subsidies, unlike other countries.

In addition to the fund for credit lines, there must be pressure for Petrobras to modify its pricing policy on QAV.

The president of Petrobras, Jean Paul Prates, however, has already said that he will not change the price “with the stroke of a pen” and denies there is any type of abuse in pricing.

Counterparts

This impasse is what is behind the successive postponements of the Voa Brasil program, which the Minister of Ports and Airports, Silvio Costa Filho, intends to implement.

The announcement was scheduled for this week, but should be postponed again, according to Planalto advisors and company executives.

Under the new policy, companies will have to reserve a quota of tickets to be sold to those most in need for R$200.

They claim, however, that without a clear aid program it is impossible to get Voa Brasil on the air.

With Diego Felix

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