Brazilian Congress Upholds Fee for Checked Baggage on Domestic Flights

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – With pressure from the airline industry and the justification that the measure could help to cheapen air travel, the National Congress failed to overrule President Bolsonaro’s veto and thus maintains the charging of fees for checked baggage on domestic flights.

Deputies cast 247 votes to overrule the veto and 187 against; however, 257 votes in the Chamber are needed to overrule a presidential veto. The article was contained in the law ratifying the Provisional Measure that opened the domestic airline market to foreign capital.

On Tuesday, the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Rodrigo Maia, met with colleagues from the Centrão (center-right) caucus and argued that overturning the veto would cause airlines to maintain high ticket prices. When leaving the meeting, Maia signaled that an agreement had been reached.

Representatives of the government and the National Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC) also met with federal deputies in recent weeks to request the maintenance of the veto. One of the arguments was the attraction of low-cost companies to the domestic market.

The Chilean airline JetSmart with ultra low cost, for example, began on Tuesday, September 24th, the sale of airline tickets between three Brazilian cities and Santiago, capital of Chile. Other companies may also be interested and, according to one source, would have conditioned the progress of negotiations upon maintenance of the veto.

Requests

“There were requests from ANAC and the Ministry of Infrastructure to promote competition,” said Deputy Aguinaldo Ribeiro about the requests that reached Congress. “The challenge I want to make is if at the beginning of the year [2020], in February, we still do not have a low-cost company operating [in Brazil], we will vote on the bill by Deputy Celso Russomano,” said Ribeiro, about the 2016 bill that would prohibits luggage fees.

The government leader in Congress, Joice Hasselman, also appealed to competitiveness: “We want to open our airspace. There are five airline companies wanting to come to Brazil. If we have more offers it is obvious that the [airfare] price will fall.”

Deputy Baleia Rossi said that the prices of air tickets in the country today are abusive: “Much of this is due to lack of competitiveness. We will give a vote of confidence. Otherwise, we change our position,” he said.

In June Bolsonaro decided to veto the free luggage allowance, inserted by amendment, as it opened the air sector to foreign capital. The provisional measure, published in the Temer government, was approved by Congress this year.

The vetoed article, under the amendment, provided that passengers on domestic flights could carry, without additional charge, luggage of up to 23 kg in an aircraft with 31 seats or more.