The ATC Bust in Latin America's Air Travel Boom

At 3.2 serious accidents per million takeoffs, the South American regional rate is way out of kilter with the US, Western Europe and other developed countries. However the continent still shines in comparison to Africa's 6.7 crashes per million departures. Despite booming air traffic growth, spending on infrastructure has lagged seriously behind. Passenger numbers have increased by 43 percent in Brazil since 2003 and overall by ten percent for the continent. The boom in air travel is a child of sustained economic growth and it is now being stoked by the proliferation of low cost airlines. However in some areas of Argentina and all of Bolivia, it's still the wild west, with no radar coverage at all. After the GOL/Legacy midair collision, the International Federation of Airline Pilots' Associations (IFALPA) warned its members that flying over Brazil had added safety risks due to the country's oft-befuddled ATC. The only stand-out nation is Chile. It is investing in new equipment and training controllers. ATC capacity should be the limiting factor for continued growth however overloading the system has also become a facile solution. After the Gol collision, Brazilian military ATCO's mutinied and have now won themselves a new deal. However on March 16th in Argentina, the country's President declared their nation's ATC to be broken and started the process to take responsibility for it out of the hands of the military. That was precipitated by a large percentage of Airline Austral's pilots refusing to fly. But even if (or after) ATC gets its act together, there's still other hardware left to fix. South America's largest city Sao Paulo loses its service whenever it rains heavily - which it often does. The airport at Congonhas floods easily and four jets have rattled off its runways' ends in the past 12 months.