By Andrei Khalip
RIO DE JANEIRO, July 18 (Reuters) - Brazil must review its reliance on overcrowded, undersized airports inside city centers, aviation experts said on Wednesday after the country's deadliest air disaster killed up to 200 people.
The Congonhas airport in the heart of Sao Paulo, where the disaster occurred on Tuesday, operated at full capacity and its runways were too short for landing large commercial aircraft in rain, said Gustavo Mello, a risk management consultant.
Congonhas is Brazil's busiest airport, handling most domestic flights for the country's financial capital of 16 million inhabitants. The Santos Dumont airport in the center of Rio de Janeiro faces similar problems and presents similar risks, analysts said.
"They manage to land, but the planes and pilots are pushed to the limits. That means that a pilot cannot make a mistake, that the radar cannot fail -- any problem and there is an accident. This accident was announced," Mello said.
According to witnesses, the Airbus <EAD.PA> A320 with 186 people on board failed to brake in time on the rain-soaked runway and crashed into a building across the road from the airport, bursting into flames.
"The tragedy is related to the airport conditions, because if you project that same event on a long runway ... the people may have lived," said Moacyr Duarte, a researcher at the Rio de Janeiro Federal University.
Analysts agree large planes should be handled by the international airports, Guarulhos in Sao Paulo and Galeao in Rio de Janeiro.
CONVENIENCE VS RISK
Duarte, who specializes in emergency analysis, said the risk of running Congonhas in present conditions with heavy commercial planes landing there was "unacceptable."
Congonhas' runway was 1,940 meters (yards) long, just enough for a A320 to land in dry weather conditions, Mello said citing European safety recommendations. But at least another 300 meters are required for landing on a wet strip, he added, quoting the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board's norms.
"For this Airbus and for Boeing 737's flying Rio-Sao Paulo, the runway has to be 300-500 meters longer," he said.
TAM Linhas Aereas <TAMM4.SA><TAM.N>, which operated the jet, said the A320 was entirely compatible with the Congonhas runway and it was too early to say what had caused the crash.
Earlier this year, officials tried to ban large jets from the airport because of fears they could skid off its short landing strips, but the proposal was rejected.
"For airlines, it is more profitable to land large planes inside the city," Mello said. "The company says passengers want to be left in the heart of the city, but were they informed about the risks?"
The airport repaved its landing strip last month but lacked grooving to help drain water during heavy rains, the airport authority Infraero said.
Air travel in Brazil has repeatedly been disrupted since another major crash in September killed 154 people, unveiling a series of problems, including insufficient infrastructure and overburdened, underpaid air traffic controllers. (Additional reporting by Denise Luna)
