Fri, Nov 02, 2007
Latest To Lose Job Following TAM Accident
The head of Brazil's National Civil
Aviation Agency has resigned, the latest to leave his job in the
aftermath of a fatal July airline accident in Sao Paulo.
Milton Zuanazzi was not due to leave his post until 2011,
according to Thomson Financial... but he instead resigned
Wednesday, under fire from Brazil's Defense Minister for the
country's months-long aviation and air traffic controllers
crisis.
Zuanazzi presided over the civilian agency through Brazil's two
deadliest plane crashes -- a September 2006 midair involving a Gol
Airlines 737 and a private business jet that claimed 154 lives, and
the July 17 loss of a TAM Airlines A320 in a runway overrun at
Congonhas. As ANN reported, 199 people
were killed when that jet landed fast on a rain-slicked runway, and
impacted a building.
Defense Minister Nelson Jobim has openly criticized Zuanazzi's
handling of both crises, as well as striking air traffic
controllers and technical problems plaguing the nation's radar
systems.
For his part, Zuanazzi said the final straw was a proposal from
Jobim to increase the distance between seats on Brazilian airliners
-- a move Jobim says would increase safety, but Zuanazzi says would
lead to higher air fares, shutting out the nation's poorer
residents.
"They don't want poor people to fly," Zuanazzi told a news
conference, reports The Associated Press.
Brazil's aviation industry is managed by a five-member board,
appointed by the president. The country's military oversees
Brazil's air traffic control system.
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