This Friday (11), President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva declared that the federal government may buy some planes for presidential and official transport.
The statement was made during an interview with the Ceará radio station O Povo. According to the president, the need to purchase new aircraft arose after the episode involving a breakdown with the presidential A319 in Mexico, where the A319 had to fly for almost 5 hours until landing safely at the airport of origin.
"We learned a lesson from this problem. We are not going to buy just one plane, but we need to buy several planes. So that Brazil, which is a large country with 8,5 million square kilometers […] we need to prepare ourselves. We cannot be caught by surprise.“, said Lula in an interview with O Povo radio.
Currently, the FAB has an A319 ACJ (Airbus Corporate Jets) in VIP configuration for presidential transport since 2005. There are also other aircraft that can fulfill the same function, but with range limitations, such as the Embraer VC-2, based on the E-jet 190. There is also the possibility of using the Airbus KC-30 (A330-200), however, the aircraft has large-scale transport configurations, being an option for continental destinations without the need for a technical stop.
In addition to presidential use, Lula also commented on the need for new aircraft for use by ministers. The purchase values are not yet known, but the president guaranteed that a purchase study would be sent to the Ministry of Defense.
"And we're going to buy some other planes because some ministers need to travel. We don't govern Brazil with ministers sitting around in Brasília. Ministers have to travel.“, concluded Lula.
Read also
- Operation Raízes do Cedro: the fourth FAB flight to repatriate Brazilians from Lebanon takes off
- Aena celebrates its first year of managing Congonhas Airport
- Embraer, MCTI and FINEP close R$126,7 million agreement for research
