Brasília International Airport - Presidente Juscelino Kubitschek Aeroporto Internacional de Brasília - Presidente Juscelino Kubitschek
IATA: BSB – ICAO: SBBR
Summary
Airport type		Military/Public
Operator		Infraero
Serves		Brasília
Elevation AMSL		3,479 ft / 1,060 m
Coordinates		15°52′16″S 047°55′07″W / 15.87111°S 47.91861°W / -15.87111; -47.91861
Website		Infraero BSB
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
	ft	m
11R/29L	10,827	3,300	Asphalt
11L/29R	10,499	3,200	Asphalt
Statistics (2009)
Passengers			12,213,825
Aircraft Operations			162,349
Metric tonnes of cargo			41,000
Statistics: Infraero Sources: Airport Website

Brasília International Airport - President Juscelino Kubitschek (IATA: BSB, ICAO: SBBR) is Brasília's international airport. With a terminal capable of handling more than 9 million passengers per year, it is one of Brazil's most modern airports. There are 136 shop spaces and four theatres at the Brasília Airport.

It is operated by Infraero, and it is named after the former Brazilian President Juscelino Kubitschek. In 2006, the airport opened a second runway. In 2009, the airport handled 12,213,825 passengers and 162,349 aircraft movements, placing it as the 3rd busiest airport in Brazil by both passenger traffic and aircraft movements.

History

Brasília was only a project when president Juscelino Kubitschek landed the first time in the Central Plateau in 1956. However an airport called Vera Cruz already existed. Built in 1955 by then deputy governor of Goiás, Bernardo Sayão, at the request of the chairman of the location of the New Federal Capital, Marechal José Pessoa, the airport received on October 2nd of that year the first crew for the building of the new capital.

Vera Cruz Airport was located where today is the Integrated bus and train terminal of Brasília. It had a dirt runway with a length of 2,700 meters and a passenger terminal in a makeshift shack cob wall covered with buriti-leaves. The name of Vera Cruz was a suggestion of José Pessoa, whose expectation was to have the new city baptized with this name.

Vera Cruz airport, however, had only a temporary existence. The change to a definitive airport was already identified as a priority, along with the construction of the Residential Center, Pioneer Farm Range, where the Catetinho were built, the facilities for the Guard Battalion, and the second provisional airport, who served to the President and the pioneers during the construction of the new capital.

When the Catetinho was completed in November 1956, works for clearing for the final construction of the airport had already started, which possess a runway 3300 meters long. On April 2, 1957, the airport received for the first time the presidential aircraft, a Viscount turbo-prop made in England. The official inauguration of the airport took place on May 3, 1957. That year, also opened its facilities deployment Air Force Base, which worked in partnership with the airport.

The construction works of the airport started on November 6, 1956. They lasted for just over six months and required the clearing of an area of 1,334 million square meters, 178,500 square meters of earthwork, base-stabilized 40,900 m², covering 73,500 m², topographical services, positioning and leveling. The runway was designed to have a length of 3,300m, but initially it was only 2,400m long and 45m wide. The passenger terminal was built in wood and served the city until 1971.

In 1990 the Brasília International Airport began to gain its present form with a central body and two satellites for departure and arrival of passengers. The first phase was inaugurated in 1992. Included the construction of a bridge to access the passenger terminal and metal cover, a total of 11.726m². The circular satellite was inaugurated in 1994. In a second stage, the main body of the pasenger terminal was renovated and the satelite received nine boarding bridges.

At that time, the Integrated Treatment Information Airport (SITIA) went into operation at the airport. SITIA is a system which facilitated the automated control of various activities at the airport. Brasília was the first airport in Latin America to operate this system. The conclusion of the third stage of the works offered users a new pier and international arrivals, a panoramic terrace, a finger and a food-court open 24 hours. The reform reached an area of 17.285m ², with the installation of a gallery with fountains, landscaping and a space for exhibitions. The architect Sérgio Parada gave the airport a modern design, dynamic and aligned with the traces of the city.

On August 2, 2010, Terminal 2 was opened for traffic. It is located at the former terminal for general aviation, originally built in 1988. The new terminal was made necessary due to the increasing passenger traffic in Brasília.

In the vicinity of the airport is located Cindacta I, the Brazilian Integrated Air Traffic Control and Air Defense Center section 1.

Terminals, airlines and destinations

Accidents and incidents

• 29 September 2006: Gol flight 1907, a Boeing 737-8EH registration PR-GTD en route from Manaus-Eduardo Gomes to Rio de Janeiro - Galeão via Brasília International Airport, collided with a business jet Embraer Legacy on its first leg, fell, disintegrated in midair, and crashed into the Amazon forest in the north of the State of Mato Grosso, killing all of the 154 passengers and crew on board of the Gol aircraft.

Future developments

On 31 August 2009, Infraero unveiled a BRL514.8 million (USD271.2 million; EUR190 million) investiment plan to up-grade Pres. Juscelino Kubitscheck International Airport focusing on the preparations for the 2014 FIFA World Cup which will be held in Brazil, Brasília being one of the venue cities:

• Enlargement of apron and taxiways. Value 34.5. Completion: April 2011
• Renovation of the existing passenger terminal. Value 22.5. Completion: November 2011
• Enlargement of the passenger terminal. Value 439.0. Completion: April 2013
• Parking. Value 18.8. Completion: April 2014

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