PANAIR DO BRASIL
Address: Praça Marechal Ancora, s/n, Castelo, Rio de Janeiro, RJ
Themes: Civilian and Corporate Participation
Translated from the Portuguese by Katy Blake Burch-Hudson
Panair Brazil was an aerial transport business that, in the mid-20th century, became the most relevant Brazilian aviation company. In 1965, the company was in the middle of a bankruptcy process that began with a presidential decree of the then President Humberto Castelo Branco in a move of political persecution against the majority partners of the company.
The company, created in 1930, became emblematic in the history of Brazilian aviation, contributing to the development in the Amazon region through the transport of medicines and professionals. Against the backdrop of the battle against yellow fever, the company dedicated itself to the expansion of the air fleet and radio communication, establishing of coastal airports and installing of broadcasting stations. Beyond this, Panair was the only company in Brazil operating flights to the Middle East, Africa and Europe. It was also the owner of Celma turbine maintenance – Electro-Mechanic Company, the most important company in its sector in Latin America, offering services for foreign airlines. In 1961, Panair became entirely national, handing over control to the Simonsen-Miranda group, owned by Celso da Rocha Miranda and Mario Wallace Simonsen, who had ties to João Goulart and Juscelino Kubitschek.
When the military regime began persecuting opposition, these businessmen suffered unjustifiable economic sanctions because they did not conform to the new established order and they had political ties with former presidents. In February of 1965, as a result of a military presidential decree, Panair lost permission to fly with the revocation of all of its airlines. In fact, regardless of Panair’s prestige and a financial situation similar to that of other airline companies, the Ministry of Aeronautics claimed that the measure had been taken because of the company’s insolvency, and the Ministry intended to ensure the continuation of service and flights. As a result of this action, around five thousand families found themselves in desperate circumstances after losing their jobs.
Other measures were taken were taken by the regime, setting up an undeniable persecution with clear bias against the Miranda-Simonsen group. At the same time that the process of Panair’s financial failure was occurring, the military occupied Celma maintenance, which also belonged to the airline company, and the Center of Aeronautics Information (CISA) began an investigation into Celso da Rocha Miranda. Other companies belonging to the businessmen’s’ estates became targets of this persecution, resulting in the closing of Excelsior TV, the confiscation of warehouses of the largest coffee exporters Wasim and Comal and the canceling of all of the insurance of public branches arranged by Ajax Insurance – the largest insurance company in Latin America.
In the aftermath of the investigations conducted by the military regime, different judiciary maneuvers were carried out with the goal of impeding the recuperation of the companies, demonstrating how the regime favored companies politically aligned with the new government. Beyond this, a long judicial battle proved that the military regime falsified documents to constrict activities of the group, which could have offered resistance to the coup. Regarding these inconsistent demands by the military regime, author Daniel Leb Sasaki speaks to what former director of Panair, Paulo Sampaio, thought of the events:
In addition to this devastation, even before there were any important results from the restructuring of the company’s assets, the financial demands of the military were paid using communal funds. These funds included the worker compensation funds for all the employees who were the largest group affected and most defenseless victims of the catastrophe. The provision of the Consolidation of Labor Laws (article 486) clearly and irrefutably attributed this role to the Federal Union. On its own from a financial standpoint, this refutes allegations that Brasil Panair was a business that need to be bailed out. This shows, on the contrary, its economic stability, an infrastructure company unequalled in Brazilian commercial aviation. So powerful and thriving that, even though it suffered crushing actions that aimed to destroy the business it could boast, a surplus of 121.2 million cruzieros, with all its legitimate creditors paid (Daniel Leb Sasaki. Depoimento a CNV, 23 March 2013).
After 50 years, the former Panair employees and their descendants, labelled the “Panair Family,” get together periodically to relive the golden ages of the company as a symbol of Brazilian aviation. In 2014, the National Truth Commission (CNV) recognized that the political persecution suffered by the businessmen Mario Wallace Simonsen and Celso Rocha Miranda was the principal cause for the dismantling of Panair Brasil. The building that functioned as the Panair headquarters and as a passenger plane and seaplane terminal for the company since 1937 now houses the III Regional Air Command, the Santos Dumont Airport, in the Castelo neighborhood in the center of the city of Rio de Janeiro.