The Brazilian government announced on Wednesday that it has included a list of 13 airports in its massive national privatization program, Xinhua reported.
These airports are Macae in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Vitoria in the state of Espirito Santo, Recife in Pernambuco, Juazeiro do Norte in Ceara, Bayeux in Paraiba, Campina Grande in Paraiba, Aracaju in Sergipe, Maceio in Alagoas, and five airports in Mato Grosso.
The airports will be put up for tender to the private sector. However, Sao Paulo's Congonhas airport, the second-largest in the country, was not on the list, despite having been announced for privatization in August.
Congonhas' removal happened at the behest of Transport Minister Mauricio Quintella, who argued that privatizing it would cause severe financial troubles for Infraero, Brazil's state airport infrastructure company.
The national civil aviation agency, ANAC, will be responsible for carrying out the privatization measures, under the supervision of the Ministry of Transport.