São Paulo–Guarulhos International Airport

History

On June 6, 1967, in response to the growth of the air traffic in Brazil, the Brazilian military government initiated studies concerning the renovation of the airport infrastructure in Brazil. As part of the conclusions of these studies, because of their location, strategic importance, and security issues, new passenger facilities would be constructed in the areas of Galeão Air Force Base in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo Air Force Base in São Paulo.

In relation to São Paulo, the initial planning of the airport involved three runways and four passenger terminals. However, the first phase of the construction comprising two runways and two terminals started only on August 11, 1980. The airport was officially inaugurated on January 20, 1985. Quickly Guarulhos became the city's primary airport, supplanting São Paulo–Congonhas Airport.

In 1989 the runways were extended and the terminals renovated, enlarged, and had their capacity increased from 7.5 million to 8.25 million passengers/year. The whole complex covered 13.86 square kilometres (3,425 acres), of which 5 square kilometres (1,200 acres) is urbanized area.

Construction of Terminal 3, capable of handling 12 million passengers per year, had been planned since 2001 but due to a myriad of political and economic problems, the actual construction didn't begin until 2011.

In 2010, the airport served more than 26.8 million passengers, an increase of 24% over 2009 and passenger volumes were 31% in excess of its capacity rated at 20.5 million per year at its present configuration.

In order to relieve the acute overcrowding at Terminals 1 and 2, Infraero announced on May 17, 2011 that the former cargo terminals of defunct airlines VASP and Transbrasil, later used by Federal Agencies, would undergo renovations and adaptations for use as domestic passenger terminals with remote boarding. This new terminal was initially called Terminal 4 (T4). The first phase of the renovations, comprising the former VASP terminal, opened on February 8, 2012, and the second phase, comprising the former Transbrasil terminal,was opened in June 2013. Contrary to what had been announced before, the new terminal will be permanent. Webjet was the first airline to use the new facility. The new terminal, in its first phase, increased the capacity of the airport in 5.5 million passengers/year and, in the second phase to 8 million passengers/year. In total, Guarulhos would then be able to handle 28.5 million passengers/year.

Following a decision made on April 26, 2011 by the Federal Government for private companies being granted concessions to explore some Infraero airports, on February 6, 2012, the administration of the airport was conceded, for 20 years, to the Consortium Invepar-ACSA composed by the Brazilian Invepar, an Investments and Funds Society (90%) and the South African ACSA – Airports Company South Africa (10%). Infraero, the state-run organization, will remain with 49% of the shares of the company incorporated for the administration.

On 2 December 2015, the airport's terminals were renumbered. Former Terminal 4 was renumbered Terminal 1; former terminals 1 and 2, which were wings of a single building, became the new Terminal 2. Terminal 3 kept its numbering. The new numbering reflects the order by which terminals are reached when one arrives at the airport by the access road, and is expected to be less confusing in the long term. Check-in counters and gates were also renumbered, with the first digit being now the new terminal number.

On 28 October 2015, the National Civil Aviation Agency of Brazil (Anac) authorized Airbus A380 operations at Guarulhos Airport, effective four days later. The authorization was granted after extensive works were conducted on the runways and taxiways (including widening runway 09L/27R to 60 metres) and special taxiing procedures were established. On 14 November 2015, Emirates operated a one-time special flight with the A380 on its Dubai-São Paulo route to commemorate its eight years of operations in Brazil. On 26 March 2017, Emirates started daily A380 service from Dubai to São Paulo, replacing the Boeing 777-300ER previously used on that route — coincidentally, on the same day that the other UAE airline, Etihad, ended its services to São Paulo.

Runways and taxiways

GRU has two parallel runways. Runway 09R/27L is 3,000 metres (9,843 ft) long and 45 metres (148 ft) wide, while runway 09L/27R is 3,700 metres (12,140 ft) long and 60 metres (200 ft) wide, after being widened in 2015 to better receive the Airbus A380. The field elevation at the airport is 750 metres (2,459 ft) above mean sea level. Runway 09R/27L is used preferentially for landings and runway 09L/27R preferentially for takeoffs, but the Airbus A380 uses the longer and wider latter runway for both landing and taking off. There are high-speed exit taxiways on both runways that allow for traffic to depart the runway at higher speed to allow better efficiency for landing and takeoff traffic. As of 2014, there was an average of 650 takeoff and landing operations per day at the airport.

Terminals

The airport has three passenger terminals, numbered 1, 2, and 3, according to their order along the airport access road when arriving from the city.

Terminals 2 and 3 are directly linked by a walkway.

The airport also has a large air cargo terminal with a built area of 97,000 square metres (1,040,000 sq ft) and capable of handling any type of cargo, including refrigerated and hazardous shipments.

Navigational aids

There are two navigational aids that GRU traffic uses. The Bonsucesso very high frequency omnidirectional range with distance measuring equipment (VOR-DME) is located 9.1 kilometres; 5.6 miles (4.9 nmi) to the east of GRU.

Future developments

Infraero unveiled a R$ 1,489.5 million (US$784.7 USD million; €549.8 EUR million) investment plan to upgrade Guarulhos International Airport, focusing on preparations for the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the Summer Olympics in 2016. The investment was supposed to be used as follows:

Central to this investment plan is Terminal 3, which is projected to add 12 million passenger capacity to the 17 million of the existing two terminals. Plans for a third runway were decided to be "technically impracticable" and were cancelled in January 2008.

However, the former concessionary, Infraero, experienced many legal and bureaucratic difficulties, which prevented most (if any) of these improvements from being completed on schedule. As of April 2013, the new concessionary unveiled a new expansion project, which included the new Terminal 3 (with a different design than the one proposed by Infraero), the widening of the main runway in order to enable operations by the large Airbus A380 and Boeing 747-8, and several other improvements in the existing terminals and parking area.(Emirates operates A380 service from Dubai)

The terminal is now officially open and all Star Alliance airlines are in terminal 3, as well as many other overseas carriers. International flights by LATAM also use the facitity.

A train service development and construction has also been planned. This includes an Airport Express Line linking the airport to downtown São Paulo and a Rio–São Paulo high-speed rail connecting Guarulhos to Rio de Janeiro-Galeão and Campinas-Viracopos airports. As of 2016, however, both projects are stalled; the suburban rail service to the city (to be operated by CPTM, the São Paulo state commuter railway company) is scheduled to start operations in 2019, with a BRL 101 million budget overrun.

Busiest routes

Note:

Accidents and incidents

Access

The airport is located 25 km (16 mi) from downtown São Paulo.

Car

The airport has its own highway system: Rodovia Hélio Smidt Highway which connects the airport to Presidente Dutra Highway or Ayrton Senna Highway. Residents of Guarulhos can access the road via Monteiro Lobato Avenue. Taxi stands are located outside each of the two terminals on the Arrivals level; inside there are car rental agency representatives.

Bus

Bus transportation is available through the Airport Bus Service, an executive bus line, administered by EMTU and operated by Consórcio Internorte - Área 3. This service provides transportation connecting Guarulhos to Congonhas airport; to Tietê Bus Terminal; to Palmeiras-Barra Funda Intermodal Terminal, to Faria Lima Ave; To Republica Square (Praça da República); To Berrini Ave., Itaim Bibi district; and to the circuit of hotels along Paulista Avenue and Rua Augusta. The ride takes about one hour, depending on traffic. At the airport, tickets can be purchased at the counter located outside the lounge of the Terminal 1, Wing B's arrivals level.

Pássaro Marron/EMTU, a syndicate of the Internorte Consortium, offers two regular bus lines, 257 and 299, connecting Tatuapé subway station (Line 3-Red) with Guarulhos Airport every 30 minutes. At Tatuapé, both buses can be picked up on a platform of that multimodal station's North side bus terminal. At the airport, the stop for both buses is at the Arrivals level road connecting the wings of Terminal 2.

Gol Airlines and LATAM offer for their passengers free bus transfers between Guarulhos and Congonhas airports at regular times.

Viação Cometa offers daily departures to and from the airport and the cities of Santos, Sorocaba, São Vicente, and Praia Grande. Lirabus operates daily buses between the airport and Campinas. Pássaro Marron offers bus services to São José dos Campos with departures every two hours. Viação Transdutra connects the airport with the city of Arujá.

Rail

Currently, there is no rail access to Guarulhos. Line 13 of the São Paulo's suburban rail system, operated by CPTM, is under construction and was expected to begin operating in 2015, but as of 2016 the start of operations has been postponed until 2019.

Trivia