Desregulamentação da franquia de bagagem despachada no Brasil: Uma Análise de Impacto Regulatório

The National Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC) proposed, in the second half of 2016, to deregulate the obligation to offer a free checked baggage on domestic flights. This policy is already a reality in most domestic markets in the world and, in general, the specialized literature points to the existence of gains in social welfare. Based on the economic theory of social welfare, this paper intends to discuss the expected impacts of this regulatory decision, taking into account the results observed in other countries applied to the Brazilian reality. The results suggest that consumers benefit by saving boarding and disembarkation time (corrected by the deterioration in punctuality) and by the expansion of demand due to the reduction of the price of the passage without baggage. On the other hand, companies benefit from new revenues from increased demand, fuel economy, the probable reduction of costs with baggage transport logistics and the reduction of indemnities for lost checked baggage. The authors apply economic valuation methodologies on a cost-benefit analysis to estimate the net social benefit expected as a result of the regulatory decision.