Análise das causas e consequências da falência da Panair

Abstract

February 10, 1965, was a day that went down in history. Panair do Brasil (Panair of Brazil) — a well-funded Brazilian airline that served the market from international routes to remote locations in the Amazon — received the news that its airworthiness certificate had been revoked. A few days later, the request for a settlement was rejected and the company was forced to declare bankruptcy because the debts were considered unpayable, and the safety of its flights was in jeopardy. The matter quickly became a national issue and led to hearings in the Senate and a number of articles in the national and international media. After a process, conducted unusually, the sentence was taken quickly: the company was dissolved, its shareholders were fired, and its employees were relocated, taken over by other companies, or laid off. This report aims to review the bankruptcy of Panair, comparing what was made public at the epoch with the facts uncovered over time. The purpose that motivates the writing of this report is the importance of one of the pioneering companies of the Brazilian airspace that was legally and politically sabotaged. The thesis of this article is that the decision was made for political reasons and not for technical or economic reasons, as can be seen from reports at the time and documents later revised. The "Família Panair" (Panair Family) was created to fight for the rights of the company and its former employees and shareholders to obtain compensation, recognition, and answers to these incidents. Decades after the incident, the "Comissão Nacional da Verdade" (National Truth Comission), appointed by the federal government in 2011 to investigate the crimes of the dictatorial government, published a report that showed the discrepancy between what was said and done at the time and what the commissions found out. In this way, the heirs of the owners of Panair obtained recognition of the previous persecution, which led to a victory in court in several lawsuits and were able to regain recognition of the company.