The government of Brazil has approved a plan by American Airlines Group Inc to construct a maintenance centre at Sao Paulo’s airport thanks to a project worth $100 million that would enable the U.S. carrier to consolidate its South American operations.
On Friday a resolution signed by Maurício Quintella, the Transportation Minister had been published that approved an agreement between the firm operating the airport as well as the airline.
It permits American to utilize land at the airport for about 40 years.
According to a leading news media agency’s March 2017 report, this U.S. carrier had established its very first maintenance centre in South America at the international airport at Sao Paulo. Here it would be creating a two-bay hangar at a price of $50 million and an additional $50 million for tools and parts.
On a normal day American has at least six wide-bodied aircrafts parked in Sao Paulo for up to 12 hours.
And, the hangar would permit it do some maintenance work utilizing the ground time of the planes as per Marta Pantin who is the spokeswoman for the airline. This approval is its latest example of President Michel Temer’s efforts to lure foreign investment to help in the construction of new railways, ports and roads for modernizing the airports of Brazil.
Temer’s government has also discussed ending a rule restricting foreign ownership of Brazilian airlines to a 20% stake.
Now, this agreement permits American to expand in South America by providing a greater number of connections and lower fares. But then, it still requires approval by the U.S. Department of Transportation. This, however, would only be possible when an Open Skies treat between Brazil and the United States is materialized.
