ANAC Director: Debate on airfares is "anticipated".

Ivan Richard
Reporter from Agência Brasil

Brasilia - The CEO of the National Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC), Marcelo Guaranys, considered the debate about airfare prices during the 2014 World Cup to be "premature." According to him, the flight schedule, including the number of flights during the World Cup, will only be defined in January, after the draw for the competition's groups. Only after that, he stressed, will it be possible to monitor whether the companies will charge "abusive" prices for tickets.

According to reports in Folha de S.Paulo, the price of airline tickets purchased now for June and July 2014 is up to ten times higher than the normal price outside of the World Cup period. According to Guaranys, the price increase is due to high demand, but he emphasizes that new flights will be made available.

"Few flights are being sold today for June and July, so what happens is what occurs on a daily basis: the earlier I buy, the more the company sees that there are few commercial seats available and they are sold at higher prices. But this is not yet the flight schedule for the World Cup," said Guaranys.

"Companies are free to request flights, but they are waiting for complete information, and we will have that after the [World Cup] draw, and we expect to have the new flight schedule for the World Cup approved starting in January. Then, we will be able to monitor the prices being charged," added the CEO of ANAC.

Even with the sale of new flights, Guaranys does not rule out an increase in airfare prices during the World Cup. "As with all major events and large influxes [of people], it's possible that prices will be higher. Not all prices as reported. Just as we've seen that hotels already sold have higher prices, I imagine we'll have some more expensive flights, but we'll have a large number of flights that should be made public before the World Cup," he emphasized.

During a public hearing at the Transportation Committee in the Chamber of Deputies, Guaranys also said that ANAC (National Civil Aviation Agency) has been able to develop a successful strategic plan for major events. He cited the Confederations Cup and World Youth Day as situations in which airport demand grew significantly, but no problems were recorded in the operation of the terminals. "We had no problems at the major events, despite the airports being very crowded."

Edited by: Talita Cavalcante