Brazil's government announced Sunday that it will invest 350 million reales (about 175 million U.S. dollars) to upgrade and repair runways at its eight big airports following two airport-related disasters.

The money will go to Sao Paulo's Congon has and Cumbica airports, as well as Rio de Janeiro's Santos Dumont, Vitoria, Goiania, Brasilia, Macapp and Salvador airports, a Brazilian government communique stated.

"The government considers these investments indispensable to avoid airport traffic problems since (travel) demand on our airports is rising," the communique added.

Most of the money will be spent on repairing and maintaining runways, which have various problems that "do not guarantee security conditions," the O Globo Brazilian daily reported.

The investment follows two serious crashes during the last year. A GOL airline accident in September left 154 people dead and more recently a TAM flight accident last month left 200 people dead.