The National Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC) said on Wednesday that it could not assure passengers that the flights will go back to normal within the next few days, due to a system failure at the control center on Tuesday.

 

ANAC's Director Denise Abreu advised passengers who had their flights delayed or cancelled to appeal to a local court or organizations dealing with consumer rights protection.

 

On Tuesday evening, ANAC announced that all night flights from Brasilia, Brazil's capital city, and Belo Horizonte, the capital of Minas Gerais state, were cancelled due to the delays caused by a system failure that paralyzed the air traffic control service Cindacta 1 for three hours in the afternoon. Only the Rio de Janeiro-Sao Paulo route was kept open.

 

"There has never been a collapse like that in the country. Practically all fights have been delayed. We cannot foresee when the system will go back to normal," said ANAC President Milton Zuanazzi.

 

The Brazilian Government criticized local airline companies for not being prepared to assist their clients in the moment of crisis. Passengers in Brasilia organized a rally to protest against the lack of information provided by the airlines check-in desks.

 

Cindacta 1, headquartered in Brasilia, is in charge of controlling the air traffic in the Mid-western and Southeastern regions of the country, which concentrates the largest Brazilian urban centers, including Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte and Brasilia.

 

(Xinhua News Agency December 7, 2006)