Ceará has come one step closer to its goal of becoming a hub for the Brazilian airline TAM. If successful in its bid, the economic benefits for Ceará will be huge. Some 35,000 jobs will be created and over R$9.9 billion injected into the state economy.
Earlier this month, a committee from Ceará comprised of state government officials and ministers held a meeting with TAM President Claudia Sender. The Ceará delegation presented the results of a report studying the wide-reaching positive effects of the installation of the TAM hub at Fortaleza Airport.
More jobs and wealth
If TAM chooses Fortaleza Airport to set up its transportation hub, the state of Ceará will see numerous benefits during the first five years of operations. These include the creation of 35,000 jobs and an impact of R$9.9 billion on the state economy. This is the equivalent of 6 per cent of Ceará’s GDP. New employment will be created across several sectors including manufacturing (1,200 jobs) and hospitality (5,700 jobs).
In its bid to become the TAM hub Fortaleza Airport is competing with two other airports in northeast Brazil, but Ceará state officials firmly believe that Fortaleza has the edge. The city caters for tourists from different sectors including business and events and sporting activity as well as recreational tourism.
Successful tourism
The Ceará Events Centre is currently experiencing a big rise in both number of events and visitors. So far this year, the Centre has hosted 35 per cent more events than in 2014 with very positive effects for the state economy. In just one week in September, two large events were held at the Centre – ExpoConstruir aimed at the construction materials sector and SOEA focusing on engineering and agriculture.
Between them, the 14,000 attendees at the two events generated around R$77.8 million for the local economy. Hotels in Fortaleza reached an occupancy rate of almost 100 per cent during the events. Spending by business and event tourists totalled R$378.28 a day, three times the amount spent by tourists on holiday in Fortaleza.
Additional attractions in Fortaleza to the tourism sector include the new Olympic Training Centre, due to open in November, and the Fortaleza Aquarium, currently under construction. When completed, the Aquarium will be the largest in Latin America and the third largest in the world.
Optimism for bid
After the meeting the TAM President, the state committee were confident Fortaleza’s bid would be successful. “We are very optimistic about the meeting,” said state Governor Camilo Santana, “and the data presented by TAM was extremely positive”. The next steps for Ceará include a meeting with Brazil’s Secretary for Civil Aviation and a technical, economic and financial viability study.
TAM is the second largest airline in Latin America and plans to set up a major flight hub in Northeast Brazil. Fortaleza Airport is competing with Pernabuco and Rio Grande do Norte in the bid for chosen location, a decision that the airline is expected to make before the end of this year.
Source: Ceará government
