Commercial Aviation Near Standstill

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva originally gained political fame as a union leader. He is now playing hardball with air traffic controllers due to their slowdowns and strikes.

President da Silva said it was unacceptable for the controllers to cause chaos that left thousands of travelers stranded. The situation became so intense, military troops were brought in to control angry passengers in the airport at the Capital City of Brasilia.

"People that perform a service considered essential must have more responsibility than others," Silva told reporters in Washington before meeting with President Bush. "When I was a union leader and wanted to order a strike in companies, there were certain sectors that we decided wouldn't stop work, because it was important for the production of the service that was essential."

The air force runs Brazil's air traffic control system, which has been thrown into chaos, again last month by controllers staging work slowdowns over pay and staffing levels.

On Friday, all 67 commercial airports in Brazil were closed for takeoffs, in another wave of air travel chaos that has plagued Latin America's largest nation for months.

By Saturday, flights were taking off again, but confusion remained. Stranded passengers who spent all night in airports tried to reach their destinations and competed for seats with passengers embarking Saturday.

Controllers were protesting a decision by the Air Force command, which oversees Brazil's air traffic controllers, to transfer top workers to other cities. They saw the transfers as retaliation against strikers for slowdowns that they staged periodically during the past six months.

Cabinet ministers met overnight and agreed to many concessions. The will give controllers a bonus, review the current promotions system, change the military status of at least some to civilian and cancel all transfers made over the past six months, the government news service Agencia Brasil said.

As ANN reported controller problems came to light in the days following a midair collision between a Legacy 600 and a Gol Airlines 737 last September.

After the collision -- which damaged the left wing, left stabilizer, and left elevator of the bizjet -- the crew of the damaged ExcelAire aircraft was able to land at a nearby military airfield at Cachimbo, Brazil. The 737 subsequently crashed approximately 20 miles north of the Peixoto de Azevedo municipality. All six crew members and 148 passengers on the 737 were killed.

According to several reports, starting in late October 2006 air traffic controllers launched a work-to-rule campaign, deliberately slowing operations, due to concerns about working conditions and new safety procedures implemented as a result of the mid-air collision. In addition, 10 traffic controllers who were on duty during a fatal air crash in September have been suspended, making the workloads even heavier for remaining controllers.

FMI: www.ntsb.gov, www.fab.mil.br/htm/index.htm