What's been played out in Brazil over the last few months is the worst combination possible, a newly democratic country, separation of powers, the last residues of an opaque military dictatorship, a too green civil administration, personalities seeking fame, an ingrained societal tendency to blame others for inhouse failings.
The inhouse failings are multiple but the main one is a lack of infrastructure planning. I see it up close in my own little sphere, maritime transport, and peripherally in road transport, both areas where “normal” equals “problematical”. Air transport was never publicily perceived as a problem; we the traveling pubic became accustomed to the ease, regularity and, when Gol set up their Southwest lookalike, low cost of zipping around for afternoon meetings a thousand miles away, then zipping back. Quietly rather self-satisfied, perhaps, of this emerging democracy’s boasting the world’s second- or third-largest regular airline network and a very good safety record.
The Gol/Legacy collision has brought the entire house of cards down and, shown up the fragility of, not just ATC, but infrastructure planning in general. Nothing like the drama of thousands of people stranded, sleeping on granite airport floors, babies missing their heart transplants and congressment missing the meetings the lobbyists paid them to vote at, to get the country’s attention. The comlete shutdown of Brasilia ATC served to reveal that there was nobody in Brazil competent to diagnose what appears to have been a minor hardware fault; the manufacturers had to send someone from Italy to resolve it.
Mega-incompetence on a national scale isn’t the exclusive domain of Brazil, though, is it. Perhaps worth noting is how much real information on the collision and its aftermath has actually come through the work of journalists; much of it just passing on BS but, if you’ve followed the story, maturing into sensible, unbiased reporting. Learning curve.
In all of this the Legacy crews’ detention was, with respect, a sideshow. Unjust and, in realpolitik terms, stupid; an ambitious DA equivalent compromising the entire judicial system as well as the country’s image. Had it not been for that intervention, the Legacy crew would have been home very shortly after the collision. It unwittingly served to avoid the real issue of mismanagement of infrastructure, just not very effectively. It also served as a(nother) wakeup call against criminalisation of aviation accidents; the Brazilian commercial pilots’s union have addressed the recent congressional hearing on that subject.
As for what the future holds, as mentioned above a few European airlines have recommended offsetting when overflying Brazil; holiday season (mid-Dec through end Feb) hotel reservations are down ±50% vs last year; anyone who would like to travel is hedging; Brazil’s president Lula says ATC problems are solved but ANAC says they’ll continue for the next two to three months; ATC themselves say too little, too late. We will see. What seems increasingly likely is gradual transference of ATC to civilian management, although the mechanics of such a transfer are miles away from being designed.
Last comment: don't waste time on what the Federal Police say.