Brazil still 'not competitive' for airlines: ALTA chief

Despite having the "biggest potential" in the region and accounting for around 40% of Latin American GDP, Brazil "is not a competitive country for the industry", ALTA's executive director Luis Felipe de Oliveira said. De Oliveira met the vice-president of Brazil, Hamilton Mourao, in July to discuss the commercial aviation industry's role in boosting Brazil's economic recovery. Among the most pressing issues, jet fuel in Brazil is "the most expensive in the world", de Oliveira suggests. He explains that the global average in terms of jet fuel's proportion of airline costs is "around 22.5%. In Brazil, it is around 30%," he says, adding: "Considering the low margins we have here in the industry, that's really affected us a lot and reduced competitiveness as well." <br/>