Brazil's domestic airlines are seeking government compensation for losses incurred during a six-month public air transportation crisis that topped US$48.5 million.

 

The crisis culminated in an hours-long walkout by air traffic controllers, which ended last Friday and grounded 80 percent of passenger air traffic.

 

Air traffic controllers have long called for additional air traffic controlling staffers and the upgrading of the entire flight management system.

 

"Government inertia in this episode was beyond the pale," said Jose Marcio Monsao, head of Snea, Brazil's Union for Airline Companies, quoted by local newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo.

 

The compensation sought by the airlines includes the hours of overtime paid to ground and air crews, overnight airplane storage fees, fuel and food and lodging for the affected passengers.

 

Brazil's air traffic crisis began after a GOL Boeing 737 collided with a private jet in September last year leaving 154 dead. The airlines saw their losses run to 19 million dollars by November.

 

Friday's strike caused the cancellation of 91 flights and the delay of 148 out of the 704 scheduled flights between midnight Friday and 10:30 am Saturday, according to Infraero, the state airport authority. In an effort to end the strike, the government made a deal with the protesting controllers promising them the suspension of planned transfers of workers from the airport of Brasilia, the capital, to other parts of the country, a salary increase and the initiation of talks on "demilitarizing" the industry.

 

(Xinhua News Agency April 2, 2007)