Brazil's air trouble due to politics, analysts say

Brazil's aviation crisis, which led to two major accidents in 10 months, is due largely to inexperience, negligence and aviation safety budget cutbacks, experts say.
An air crash that killed at least 199 people in Sao Paulo last week follows nearly a year of chaotic air travel in which flight delays and cancellations became routine.
Critics say President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva appointed friends and allies rather than career civil servants when he created the new aviation authority ANAC last year. Previously, the Air Force controlled civil aviation.
"Lula threw out the country's accumulated experience in civil aviation," said Alcebiades Santini, vice-president of Andep, a group that represents airline passengers.
Since coming to power in January 2003, Lula curtailed the powers and budgets of regulators in several industries, including oil, electricity and telecommunications. Investors complained of uncertainty and many delayed new projects.
"Lula has politicized state institutions, undermining their efficiency and expertise," said Joao Paulo Peixoto, an expert in public administration at the University of Brasilia.
Paying political favors with government appointments is not new but became more widespread under Lula, said Peixoto.
The government has repeatedly denied such accusations, defending many of its appointments as "technically" sound.
Only one of five directors at the aviation authority ANAC has any experience in aviation, said Respicio Espirito Santo, aviation professor at Rio de Janeiro's Federal University.
This government never believed in regulators and ANAC shows it," said Espirito Santo.
Two ANAC directors, including its president Milton Zuanazzi, have close ties to leaders in Lula's Workers' Party. Three days after the crash, Zuanazzi was given an Air Force medal for his contributions to aviation, causing an uproar.
TECHNICAL STAFF
Zuanazzi defended ANAC's diverse board of directors on Tuesday and said it had taken over much of the technical staff from the agency that preceded it.
"My appointment was a technical decision," he said.
The airports authority Infraero is being investigated by a congressional committee on charges of fraud.
The Lula administration also curtailed spending on aviation safety, according to the committee. ANAC's 151 million reais budget this year was one-third less than what it requested.
Authorities failed to hire more air traffic controllers, modernize equipment and expand airport capacity, experts said.
"Inexperience led to negligence and air travel became less safe and more susceptible to collapse," said Gustavo de Cunha Mello, an air safety expert in Rio de Janeiro.
Infraero President Jose Carlos Pereira agrees.
This country has no civil aviation policy, there's a conflict of interests among (authorities)," said Pereira.
Industry experts said Defense Minister Waldir Pires, a Lula confidant, lacks leadership to coordinate authorities including the Air Force, which still handles air traffic controls.
"Pires and the other top aviation authorities need to go, we need to bring the professionals back," said Santini.
The air crisis began after a collision of two airplanes over the Amazon last September killed 154 people and unveiled a stretched capacity of controllers and airlines.
Air traffic controllers since staged periodic work slowdowns to protest poor security and work conditions.
The presidency declined to comment. One aide, who requested anonymity, said the idea to create ANAC was not Lula's but former President Fernando Henrique Cardoso's.