Brazil and Argentina Sign Agreement to Increase Number of Flights

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Until now, the limit was 133, with seven for cargo flights. Under the new agreement, the limit is increased to 170 per week, and the limit for cargo aircraft ends.

The new agreement does not need to be approved by Congress, because it is an amendment to an existing one from the 1940s. This meets requests from both countries’ airlines.

In the case of Argentina, the pressure was due to the emergence of some low-cost airlines in the market, such as Flybondi and JetSmart. Brazil was also exerting pressure due to the demand in the vacation season.

Yesterday was the last day of the Mercosur Summit, which was held in Bento Gonçalves, Rio Grande do Sul. The event began on Wednesday, December 4th, with the meeting of the ministers of economy and foreign affairs, and yesterday with the bloc’s presidents.

The review of the TEC (common external tariff), one of the meeting’s main agendas, will be held in abeyance until 2020.

Brazil handed over the bloc’s pro-tempore presidency to Paraguay stating that, despite this, progress was made in this discussion, but that an agreement could not be reached and that the subject will be discussed in 2020.

An agreement was announced for the acknowledgment of geographical designations for local products – along the lines of what currently exists in the European Union – the reduction of red tape and lower costs for the bloc’s operation, as well as an agreement for border police protection.

The announcement of an automotive agreement between Brazil and Paraguay, only mentioned by Chancellor Antonio Rivas Palacios, was expected on Thursday.

In his opening speech, Chancellor Ernesto Araújo said that Mercosur has “left the cave and is in out in the sunlight”.

“The memory of protectionist Mercosur has been erased. We have left the cave and moved into the sunlight, and we will not go back into the cave,” he said.