The new, secretive company created by Jair Bolsonaro

NAV Brasil, the first state-owned company created under the Jair Bolsonaro administration, may begin life operating in the red. The new public corporation was created to take over the air navigation services currently provided by Infraero, another state-owned company, which also manages several Brazilian airports. 

Born under a government elected on the back of a discourse of privatization the increased participation of the private sector in all aspects of Brazilian life, NAV Brasil will take over the country’s entire air navigation infrastructure and almost 2,000 employees from Infraero. These people work directly or indirectly in activities related to national air traffic control.

The public corporation will be financed by the collection of three tariffs charged to airlines: 

1. Tariff for the Use of Communications and Assistance for En-route Air Navigation;
2. Tariff for the Use of Communications and Radio Assistance for Air Navigation in Approach Control Areas (near the airport); and
3. Tariff for the Use of Communications and Radio Assistance for Air Navigation in Airfield Control Areas (smaller airports).

The responsibility for air traffic control was granted to NAV Brasil under the argument of protecting the sovereignty of Brazil’s airspace, which is already overseen by the Air Force. Florisvaldo Meira, president of the Association of Flight Controllers of Curitiba, the capital of Paraná state, says that the creation of NAV Brasil resolves...