São Paulo/Guarulhos - Governor André Franco Montoro International Airport (Cumbica) Aeroporto Internacional de São Paulo/Guarulhos - Governador André Franco Montoro (Cumbica)
IATA: GRU – ICAO: SBGR
Summary
Airport type		Public/Military
Operator		Infraero
Serves		São Paulo
Location		Guarulhos, Brazil
Hub for		Gol Transportes Aéreos TAM Airlines
Elevation AMSL		2,459 ft / 750 m
Coordinates		23°25′55″S 46°28′10″W / 23.43194°S 46.46944°W / -23.43194; -46.46944
Website		Infraero GRU
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
	m	ft
09R/27L	3,000	9,843	Asphalt
09L/27R	3,700	12,139	Asphalt
Statistics (2009)
Passengers			21,727,649
Aircraft operations			209,636
Metric tonnes of cargo			351,788
Statistics: Infraero Sources: Airport Website

São Paulo/Guarulhos – Governor André Franco Montoro International Airport (IATA: GRU, ICAO: SBGR), nicknamed as Cumbica International Airport (after the former military airport in the same place), is a major Brazilian airport, the country's busiest by passenger traffic, located in the district of Cumbica, in the city of Guarulhos in metropolitan São Paulo. The airport is located 25 km (15 mi) from Downtown São Paulo. It began operations in 1985, supplanting São Paulo-Congonhas Airport as the city's primary airport.

A hub in South America, Guarulhos is Brazil's busiest airport by both passenger traffic and aircraft movements, handling 21,607,303 passengers (around one-sixth of all passengers passing through Brazilian airports.) and 209,638 aircraft movements in 2009. By cargo traffic, it is the second busiest airport in Latin America only exceeded by El Dorado International Airport of Bogotá, also the airport is the 36th busiest airport in the world. However, this airport was put in the world's third place in number of delayed flights by Forbes magazine in January, 2008.

Comprising 3,425 acres (14 km²), of which 5 km² is urbanized area, the airport's infrastructure has its own highway system: Rodovia Helio Smidt from the airport is connected to Rodovia Presidente Dutra and Rodovia Ayrton Senna.

All passenger traffic is divided between two terminals (TPS1 and TPS2). With 260 check-in counters, the airport is operational 24 hours a day. 39 national and international airlines fly from São Paulo-Guarulhos to 28 different countries, as well as more than 100 cities in Brazil and the world. Air China is the newest airline to start operations at the airport in December 2009, with flights to China.

Airport plans call for the construction of two additional terminals (TPS3 and TPS4) and a third runway, bringing the airport to full capacity for passenger and cargo operations. On 28 November 2001, a federal law changed the airport name to honor the ex-governor of São Paulo state, André Franco Montoro, deceased in 1999, although the official name is hardly ever used by locals, who normally refer to it as Guarulhos Airport or, even more commonly, just Cumbica, after the Guarulhos neighbourhood and name of the Brazilian Air Force base that exists at the site in which the airport was built. The Tropic of Capricorn passes directly through the southern tip of the airport.

The airport can service up to 20.5 million passengers a year.

Guarulhos currently operates with slot restrictions of a maximum of 45 operations/hour, being one of the two airports in Brazil with such restrictions.

Terminals, airlines and destinations

Accidents and incidents

• 21 March 1989: Transbrasil flight 801, a cargo Boeing 707-349C registration PT-TCS, flying from Manaus to São Paulo-Guarulhos, crashed at the district of Vila Barros in Guarulhos, shortly before touch-down at runway 09R. That day, at 12:00 the runway was going to be closed for maintenance and the crew decided to speed up procedures to touch-down before closure (it was already 11:54). In a hurry, one of the crew members, by mistake, activated the air-dynamic brakes and the aircraft lost too much speed to have enough aerodynamic support (Stall). As a consequence the aircraft crashed at approximately 2 km from the airport. There were 25 fatalities which of these three were crew members and 22 were civilians on the accident site. As well as the 22 fatalities, there were also over 100 injured on the ground.
• 14 September 2002: Total Linhas Aéreas, a ATR42-312 registration PT-MTS on a cargo flight between São Paulo-Guarulhos and Londrina crashed while en route near Paranapanema. The crew of 2 died.

Access

The Helio Smidt Freeway (SP-019) that serves as access to the airport.

There are several transportation options available at Guarulhos Airport. The most inexpensive way to travel to and from the airport is by bus. There is a public bus that runs every 30 minutes and travels to Tatuapé Bus terminal where connections with public transportation and the subway system are available. Ticket counters for this bus service can be found at the Arrivals area of both Terminal 1 and Terminal 2.

Another option is the executive bus service linking Guarulhos to Congonhas Airport in about 1 hour, depending on traffic.

Taxi stands are located outside the two terminals just outside the Baggage Claim area. It is recommended that travelers take taxis of any of the airport taxi companies. The fare can be pre-paid at their counters. If preferring a normal taxi, make sure that the meter has been cleared from the previous fare before entering the taxi and that the price of the fare for the destination is agreed. A taxi to downtown São Paulo takes around 30 minutes depending on the traffic. Generally, the ride costs around $50.00.

There are rent-a-car facilities at the airport.

Getting to the airport by car is easy, and routes generally use either the Ayrton Senna highway or Presidente Dutra highway, with signs indicating the way.

Panoramic view of the airport

Future developments

On 31 August 2009, Infraero unveiled a BRL1,489.5 million (USD784.7 million; EUR549.8 million) investiment plan to up-grade Guarulhos International Airport focusing on the preparations for the 2014 FIFA World Cup which will be held in Brazil, São Paulo being one of the venue cities. The investiment will be distributed as follows:

• Construction of further taxiways. Value 19.0. Completion: April 2011
• Enlargement of apron and taxiways. Value 370.5. Completion: July 2011
• Construction of the passenger terminal 3. Value 1,100.0. Completion: March 2014

Central to this investiment plan is the third terminal, which will add another 12 million passenger capacity to the 17 million of the existing two terminals. The long-term plan also envisages a fourth terminal. The master plan forecasts traffic reaching some 25 million annually by 2013. Plans for a third runway were considered "technically impracticable" and cancelled on January 2008. The main focus of Infraero has been the third terminal and the development of Viracopos Airport in an attempt to relieve pressure on airports of São Paulo.

The construction of an airport express rail link to the city and a high-speed train connecting the airport to Rio de Janeiro and the city of Campinas together with all these cities main airports (specially Campinas's Viracopos International which is planned to be the country's largest airport by 2025 with capacity for over 60 million passengers annually) has also been given high priority. More than 25 Brazilian and international companies have expressed an interest in taking this project forward.

The content above was published at Airports-Worldwide.com in 2010.
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