The 6, 362-foot runway at Sao Paulo's Congonhas airport has been repeatedly criticized as dangerously short.

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Prosecutors went to court Wednesday night seeking a court order to close Sao Paulo's Congonhas airport.

NPR: Brazilian Prosecutors Seek to Close Airport After Crash

Critics have complained that the 6, 362-foot runway at Congonhas is dangerously short.

NPR: Brazilian Prosecutors Seek to Close Airport After Crash

The company will run Congonhas and split the profits over the period.

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The jet was rerouted to Sao Paulo's international airport after coming in at an unsafe angle to Congonhas, officials with the nation's airport authority, Infraero, said.

NPR: Brazilian Prosecutors Seek to Close Airport After Crash

Closing the airport would likely create huge problems for civil aviation throughout Latin America's largest nation because Congonhas is a key hub, but prosecutors said the move is essential to ensuring air safety.

NPR: Brazilian Prosecutors Seek to Close Airport After Crash

Josafa Candido, a 30-year Vasp veteran appointed caretaker of its Congonhas ghost town, said he was sad to see a giant airplane shredding machine ordered up by Mr. Melek reducing three Vasp Boeing 737s there to piles of scrap.

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"It is necessary to temporarily paralyze the activities at the Congonhas airport in Sao Paulo until a complete renovation of both of its runways can be completed, and there is certainty that they are fully secure, " they said in a statement.

NPR: Brazilian Prosecutors Seek to Close Airport After Crash