The Brazilian government is to appropriate 3 billion reals (1.54 billion U.S. dollars) to conduct emergency renovation on three airports in Sao Paulo, Defense Minister Nelson Jobim said Saturday.

The plan, introduced in the wake of the July 17 fatal plane crash which killed 199 people, covers the Gualulhos international airport, the Campinas airport and the Jundiai airport, and is aimed to reduce the transport pressure at Sao Paulo's Congonhas airport where last month's disaster took place.
Most of the funds will be used to repair the main runway of the Gualulhos airport, and Jobim said the government will decide within one and a half months whether to build a third runway at the airport.
The Congonhas international airport was projected to have a transport capacity of 12 million passengers per year, but had been transporting 18 million per year before last month's disaster, the deadliest in Brazil's aviation history.
On July 17, a TAM airlines Airbus A320 skidded off the runway at the Congonhas airport at landing and crashed into a fuel station, causing a huge explosion and killing 199 people, including 187 onboard the plane. Causes of the crash are still being investigated.
(Source: Xinhua