Rio de Janeiro/Galeão–Antonio Carlos Jobim International Airport, popularly known by its original name Galeão International Airport, is the main international airport serving Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The airport was originally named after the neighborhood of Galeão: Praia do Galeão (Galleon Beach) is located in front of the original passenger terminal (the present passenger terminal of the Brazilian Air Force). This beach is the location where the galleon Padre Eterno was built in 1663. On January 5, 1999 the name was changed adding a tribute to the Brazilian musician Antonio Carlos Jobim. Galeão Airport is explicitly mentioned in his composition Samba do Avião. Since August 12, 2014 the airport has been operated by the concessionary Rio Galeão, a consortium formed by the Brazilian investor Odebrecht and Changi Airport Group, with a minority participation of the government owned company Infraero, the previous operator. The new concessionary has been using the brand name RIOgaleão–Aeroporto Internacional Tom Jobim. Some of its facilities are shared with the Galeão Air Force Base of the Brazilian Air Force.

History

On 10 May 1923, a School of Naval Aviation was established near Galeão beach on Governador Island. On 22 May 1941, with the creation of the Brazilian Air Force Ministry, the school became the Galeão Air Force Base; a terminal and hangars were built and the runway extended. Those buildings still exist and Galeão Air Force Base is still active. When Brazil declared war against the Axis on 22 August 1942, the aerodrome began to be used intensely by the Allies for military operations related to World War II. At the end of the war, Santos Dumont Airport was unable to handle the increased tonnage of aircraft flying on international routes and number of passengers. For this reason, international flights were gradually moved to the site of the Air Force Base. The services were however precarious and a decision was made to build a brand new passenger terminal, opposite to the Air Force Base, across the runway. On 1 February 1952, the new passenger terminal was opened and remained in use with enlargements until 1977. This terminal is used presently by passenger flights operated by the Brazilian Air Force. The cargo terminal is also located in the area and all-cargo aircraft usually park at its adjoining apron. The whole complex is now informally known as the "old Galeão". In the beginning of the 1970s, the airport was Brazil's major international and domestic air-hub. Between 1973 and 1987 the airport was managed by ARSA, until ARSA was incorporated by Infraero on 27 February 1987, an agency then recently created by the Brazilian government. Infraero was the administrator until 2013. As proof of the airport's prestige, the Concorde made its scheduled maiden flight with Air France on 21 January 1976, flying from Paris–Charles de Gaulle to Galeão via Dakar. Those twice-weekly flights were discontinued in 1982. Furthermore, the 007 – James Bond production Moonraker (1979) shows the Concorde touching down at Galeão. On 6 June 1967, in response to the growth of air traffic in Brazil, the Brazilian government initiated studies concerning the renovation of airport infrastructure in the country. 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 Galeão Air Force Base in Rio de Janeiro and the São Paulo Air Force Base in São Paulo. On 20 January 1977, when the airport was receiving most of Brazil's major international flights, this new terminal was opened and all scheduled passenger flights were transferred to the new building. This building is known today as Passenger Terminal 1. One of the features dating from this time is the sultry PA system announcements made by Iris Lettieri, which were featured on National Public Radio. In 1985, the airport lost the title of the country's major international airport to the newly-opened São Paulo–Guarulhos International Airport. At that time, a new runway allowing intercontinental flights with no weight restrictions was opened in São Paulo and Brazilian and foreign airlines increasingly used São Paulo as a national and international hub. As a consequence, the number of transiting passengers dropped. Constant efforts were made by the government of the state of Rio de Janeiro to reverse the trend. As a result, after stagnating for years embittered by the loss of domestic flights to Santos Dumont Airport and international flights to São Paulo–Guarulhos Airport, Galeão has – since late 2004 – gradually recovered its importance in the national and international spheres with addition of flights and airlines. During the year 1991, Passenger Terminal 1 underwent its first major renovation in preparation for the United Nations Earth Summit held in 1992. Its annual capacity was increased to 7.5 million passengers a year. On 20 July 1999, Passenger Terminal 2 was opened. The airport has those two passenger terminals in elliptical format, each with twelve jetways and capable of handling 7.5 million passengers annually. On 31 August 2009, Infraero unveiled a BRL819 million (US$431 million; €302 million) investment plan to upgrade Galeão International Airport focusing on the preparations for the 2014 FIFA World Cup which was held in Brazil, Rio de Janeiro being one of the venue cities, and the 2016 Summer Olympics, which Rio de Janeiro would host. The investment was supposed to be distributed as follows: Responding to critiques to the situation of its airports, on May 18, 2011, Infraero released a list evaluating some of its most important airports according to its saturation levels. According to the list, Galeão was considered to be in good situation, operating with less than 70% of its capacity. Like most South American airports operated by government-owned operators, Galeão had high operating costs per passenger. On 26 April 2011, it was confirmed that in order to speed-up much needed renovation and upgrade works, private companies would be granted a concession to operate some Infraero airports among them, on a second phase, Galeão. The plan was confirmed on 31 May 2011, and it was added that Infraero would retain 49% of the shares of each privatized airport. On 22 November 2013, the Brazilian Government had a bidding process to determine the airport's private operator from 2014 until 2039. The Group Aeroporto Rio de Janeiro, also known as RIOgaleão, formed by Grupo Odebrecht (60%) and Singaporean operator Changi Airport Group (40%) paid BRL19 billion and won the competition. The contract was signed on 2 April 2014. The new concessionary, RIOgaleão, has revised, modified and upgraded those plans to include the construction of a new pier with 26 new bridges, a new apron for 97 aircraft, and 2,640 car-parking spaces have been added in 2016–17, which would sum up to BRL2 billion reais. One day after the closure of the 2016 Summer Olympics, Galeão handled an all-time record of passengers on a single day. It is estimated that on 22 August 2016, 85,000 passengers transited at the airport facilities. On 10 February 2022, the concessionary requested the devolution of the facility. The request was approved by the National Civil Aviation Agency of Brazil on 25 May 2022. A new bidding process is expected to take place in 2023. On 27 May 2022, TAP Maintenance & Engineering closed the facility at Galeão which it had operated since 2006. This maintenance center was previously owned by Varig. On 7 July 2022, United Airlines was announced as the new owner of the facility. In April 2022, the airport was used for Stock Car Pro Series automobile racing. Cacá Bueno Circuit, named after Cacá Bueno, Rio de Janeiro-born and 5 times Stock Car Brasil champion, was built within the airport partially using runways 10/28 for this purpose. However, the circuit was not included in the 2023 Stock Car Pro Series calendar due to the increase of flights after the COVID-19 pandemic. Galeão was the primary airport of Rio de Janeiro, being the much smaller Santos Dumont Airport the secondary facility until 2019. In 2020 positions inverted and in 2022 Santos Dumont was accounting for approximately 63% of the total traffic of Greater Rio de Janeiro, spread into three airports. In 2022 Santos Dumont reached 10,178,502 transported passengers whereas Galeão had only 5,895,257. In order to control and revert this abnormal trend, on August 10, 2023 the Civil Aviation National Council issued an order to restrict Santos Dumont services to airports located within 400 km maximum from Rio de Janeiro and without international services. The resolution came into force on January 1, 2024, and is considered to be provisory, until a balance is reached. Airlines started cancelling and/or moving services to Galeão in September 2023. Following resistance from the international aviation community, on November 8, 2023 the restrictions were reversed and replaced by an annual cap of 6.5 million passengers transiting at Santos Dumont Airport, starting in 2024. The facility covers a total of 1,788.2 hectares (4,419 acres), being the largest airport site in terms of area in Brazil.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Since November 2016, the check-in and baggage claim areas of Terminal 1 are not in use. All passengers must use Terminal 2 to access the boarding gates of any terminal. Note:

Cargo

Statistics

Following is the number of passenger, aircraft and cargo movements at the airport, according to Infraero (2007-2013) and RIOgaleão (2014-2023) reports:

Accidents and incidents

Access

The airport is located 20 km north of downtown Rio de Janeiro. There are executive (blue) and ordinary (yellow) taxis available and bookable on company booths at arrival halls of both terminals. TransCarioca line of the BRT integrated public transportation system links Terminals 1 and 2 with Terminal Alvorada in Barra da Tijuca with an intermediate stop at the Line 2 subway Vicente de Carvalho station, where one can access the entire subway system. At Alvorada one can transfer between the TransCarioca and TransOeste lines. The system operates 24 hours a day and tickets are sold in the BRT booths on the arrivals level. BRT integrated public transportation operates an express line to Gentileza Intermodal Terminal (TIG), adjacent to Novo Rio Bus Terminal. At TIG, several urban bus lines and Rio de Janeiro Light Rail system are easily accessible. The latter has connections to the Railway and Ferry stations and Santos Dumont Airport. Viação 1001 operates the urban bus line 761-D from the airport to Niterói. Furthermore, the same company operates an executive service to Armação dos Búzios four times a day. Departure is from the arrivals level of Terminal 1. Ordinary city busses 924 and 925 operate to the neighborhood of Ilha do Governador, and 915 to Bonsucesso. From both neighborhoods there are connections to the North and South Sides of the city.

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