The number of flying clubs in Brazil is shrinking, with a wave of evictions after airport concessions

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However, the atmosphere in the cabins is not festive for a portion of this category. The long road for pilots to become qualified to fly a commercial airliner begins at flight schools — and many of them are threatened by a wave of real estate evictions.

Aviation clubs, non-profits, multiplied in the 1940s, thanks to a campaign by media mogul Assis Chateaubriand and then-Aviation Minister Salgado Filho. Today there are 87 centers in operation, according to Anac, representing 33% of the 258 civil aviation education centers in the country. In the last century, according to industry sources, there have been at least twice that number, and the number is declining year by year.

Since 2016, according to a survey conducted by a public hearing of the Legislative Assembly of São Paulo (ALSP) that will discuss this topic, at least 38 flying clubs have had problems; Of these, 16 have closed their doors.

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This process coincides with the concession of regional airports, which usually host these institutions, to the private sector. But this also happened at stations run by the state-owned company Infraero.

This is the case for Aeroclube de São Paulo, founded in 1931, which operates out of Campo de Marte Airport, in the northern area of ​​the capital, São Paulo. It is the country’s second-oldest operating terminal, and is facing a court dispute with concessionaire Pax Aeroportos, which took over the terminal in 2023, and could be vacated.

Public hearing on the 13th

Another factor behind the evictions are changes to Anac rules that guarantee exemptions for flying clubs. In 2018, it repealed a regulation of a 1977 decree that ensured flying clubs could operate for free at public airports. The agency says the change “promoted greater equality between the various agents working within the airport infrastructure.”

In response, the sector will hold a public hearing in Alisp in November on the topic. Furthermore, a bill being processed in the House of Representatives wants, from 2021, to resume free access to union spaces. The text was approved by the Roads and Transport Committee in 2024 and is now in the Constitution and Justice Committee, where it awaits the selection of a rapporteur.

After the expiration of the exemption, lawsuits multiplied. In the case of Aeroclub de São Paulo, this happened after the contract with Pax, which preceded the concession, expired in July.

We started negotiating with PAX. We had difficulty paying the rent of R$43,000. They said they were interested in keeping us and that the rent would be R$60,000, then it rose to R$90,000, R$130,000, R$160,000… There came a time when they ended the negotiations and said they were no longer interested – says Luiz Antonio de Oliveira, president of the entity.

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Actions by both Aeroclub, which is trying to stay put, and Pax, are continuing in court. The concessionaire requests repossession of the space and reports, in a memorandum, that the Aeroclub contract has terminated “after failed attempts at negotiation” and that “the current occupation of the space is considered illegal.”

Bax highlights that “other flight schools are still fully operational” at Campo di Marte.

Marilia, located 400 kilometers from the capital, Sao Paulo, faces a similar situation. The city’s airport has been managed since 2022 by Rede Voa. The contract that allowed the flying club to survive expired in 2024. Negotiations were unsuccessful, and a lawsuit required eviction.

The dispute reached the legislature, where the educational institution was listed as a cultural heritage by the city’s city council in March. When contacted, Foa did not comment.

-We have been in this conflict for more than a year. “We are managing to survive legally,” says Jolando Gato, safety director and coach at Marilia Flying Club.

School members, together with State Representative Tenente Coimbra (PL), are leading the organization of the public hearing that will be held in Alispe on the 13th, with the participation of more than 70 schools from all over the country. The state has 47 active flying clubs, which train about 830 pilots annually and have 3,500 members, the group’s survey shows.

Lack of a federal strategy

Airport concessions began in 2011 and accelerated with the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics, says Derek de Mendonça Rocha, an infrastructure lawyer at Manescu Adfojados.

Since 2019, the federal government has invested in a “steak and bone” model, uniting high-traffic airports with less profitable regional airports in the same decade. This was the case for Congonhas, whose concession brought together smaller assets from the states of Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso do Sul and Pará.

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The absence of flying club fees caused some distortion. The flying clubs were a comprehensive operation, Rocha says, and also served as a hangar, fueling station and mechanics.

But this conflict also occurs in terminals operated by Infraeiro, such as Flores Airport, in Manaus (AM), and Brigadero Araripe Macedo, in Lusiania (GO), where the aviation clubs Amazonas and Brasilia are located.

– The hangars were built by the Aviation Club since 1940. They supported us, we rented them – says Fernando Lucio, who was the director of Flores Airport, which was previously managed by the Amazonas Aviation Club.

On October 22, Infraero and the flying club reached an agreement, and it will have 40 days to leave the station. Infraero, in a statement, said it had “always been open to dialogue with the entities that make up the airport chain,” and stated that the flying club had occupied the space irregularly since 2023. The state-owned company also says it found “security and infrastructure issues at the airport,” which the school denies.

In Lusiania, 60 kilometers from the federal capital, the Brasilia Aero Club has also become the target of evacuation procedures, which are still ongoing.

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The CEO of the Brazilian General Aviation Association (APAG), Flavio Pires, estimates that many aviation clubs were able to survive “on subsidies” because they did not have professional management. He states that the private sector market will meet the demand for training, and stresses that the problem today does not lie in the number of pilots, but rather in the shortage of professionals with greater experience:

— Our problem is the halfway point between school, taking the first steps, and the basic requirements for taking a seat on a private plane, on a commercial flight. Today we are on the verge of experimental shortage. In Brazil there are a lot of pilots with 2-3 years of experience, and I need pilots with 7-8 years of experience.

The president of the Association of Pilots and Aircraft Owners, Humberto Branco, criticizes the lack of general policies for training pilots: