The guest of this Wednesday's JR INTERVIEW (18) is the national secretary of civil aviation, Tomé Franca. He spoke to journalist Luiz Fara Monteiro about the main issues involving civil aviation in the country, such as the airport concession program and the price of airline tickets. According to Tomé Franca, tickets are cheaper and the trend is for prices to drop further due to a reduction in the price of kerosene. “In the last 12 months, in fact, there has been a reduction in the price of tickets, according to data from Anac in relation to tickets that were actually purchased by the passenger,” he highlights. “The data points to a path of reduction in the cost of tickets, and this is happening after the reduction of aviation kerosene by 25% by the Lula government,” he added. However, according to him, one factor that contributes to the high prices of tickets in Brazil is the large number of lawsuits against airlines. “Another important impact is the issue of litigation. In Brazil, there is still a very significant percentage of lawsuits against airlines, which is outside the curve of other aviation markets in the world,” he explains. “The market for litigation against airlines generates a cost of R$1 billion in the budget of airlines in Brazil. This ends up increasing the price of tickets,” he highlights. Tomé Franca also took the opportunity to talk about the federal government’s intention to increase the number of airports with concessions. According to him, the intention is for more regional airports to join the program and thus improve the service offered. “Today, we already have 59 airports with concessionaires and within the program there is the possibility of bringing in 102 more airports. In other words, in the medium to long term, we can even triple the number of airports that will be managed by concessionaires,” he explained. Finally, the secretary also spoke about the controversy surrounding the transportation of animals. In April, the dog Joca died while being transported in the hold of an airplane. “The unfortunate incident involving the death of Joca the dog led us to open a public consultation to listen to society,” he recalled. “Animals are not cargo, they must be transported comfortably, and we are going to implement quarterly inspections with airlines, which will require them to have a registry of veterinary clinics, and we are also implementing traceability resources. Today, only 8% of transportation is done in the hold,” he stated. The program is also available on Record News, R7, social media and PlayPlus. #JornaldaRecord #Journalism #RECORD