São Paulo/Guarulhos International Airport

Aerial image of Guarulhos International Airport
Source: Andomenda


IATA: GRU ICAO: SBGR

Airport type	Public/Military
Operator	GRU Airport Invepar-ACSA
Serves	São Paulo
Location	Guarulhos, Brazil
Opened	1985
Hub for	Gol linhas aéreas Avianca Brasil VASP
Focus city for	Azul Brazilian Airlines
Elevation AMSL	750 m / 2,459 ft
Coordinates	23°26′8″S 46°28′23″WCoordinates: 23°26′8″S 46°28′23″W
Website	www.gru.com.br

São Paulo/Guarulhos – Governador André Franco Montoro International Airport (ICAO: SBGR), often referred to by it’s IATA designation GRU, is the primary international airport serving São Paulo. It is popularly known locally as either Cumbica Airport, after the district where it is located and the Brazilian Air Force base that still exists at the airport complex, or Guarulhos Airport, after the municipality of Guarulhos, in the São Paulo metropolitan area, where it is located. Since November 28, 2001 the airport has been named after André Franco Montoro (1916–1999), former Governor of São Paulo state. The airport was rebranded as GRU Airport in 2012.

The airport was the busiest in Brazil in terms of transported passengers, aircraft operations, and cargo handled in 2012, placing it as the second busiest airport in Latin America by passenger traffic (36,596,326 in 2016) after Mexico City International Airport. Guarulhos has slot restrictions, operating with a maximum of 45 operations/hour and being one of the five airports with such restrictions in Brazil (the others are São Paulo-Congonhas, Brasília, Belo Horizonte-Pampulha and Rio de Janeiro-Santos Dumont).

Since 2012, the airport has been operated by a consortium composed of Invepar S/A, Airports Company South Africa, and Infraero. Some of its facilities are shared with the São Paulo Air Force Base of the Brazilian Air Force.

Facilities

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.

Terminal 1 is the smallest and simplest. It has only domestic flights, and as of January 2020, only Azul operates there, as former Passaredo (now VoePass) has been moved to Terminal 2. Terminal 1 has no jet bridges and no direct access to the other terminals, which can only be reached by a free shuttle bus.
Terminal 2 is the oldest and largest, and for many years was the sole airport terminal, although its two wings were considered different terminals at the time. It has the majority of domestic flights and to Latin American destinations, as well as a few intercontinental flights.
Terminal 3 is the newest and most modern. It has only international flights and concentrates most long-haul intercontinental traffic, in addition to the LATAM Group’s Latin American flights. Five of the terminal’s gates can accommodate the Airbus A380.

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.

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 was 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, operated by Emirates and Lufthansa respectively, and several other improvements in the existing terminals and parking area.

The terminal 3 is open and all Star Alliance airlines are in, 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, however never concluded and cancelled. This included 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.

Since March 2017 American Airlines invested US$ 100 million on a 17,000 m2 (180,000 sq ft) maintenance hangar at Guarulhos Airport, building together with the LATAM Hangar of R$ 130 million. The American Airlines one is capable of performing line maintenance on two wide-body aircraft at the same time, of the types commonly used by the U.S. company on routes between São Paulo and the United States and the LATAM one is capable of performing line maintenance of one wide-body aircraft. It could also be used by other companies as storage for parts. The same conditions applies to the LATAM maintenance center.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Airlines	Destinations
Aerolíneas Argentinas	Buenos Aires–Ezeiza Seasonal: San Carlos de Bariloche (begins July 1, 2020)
Aeroméxico	Mexico City (resumes July 1, 2020)
Air Canada	Toronto–Pearson Seasonal: Montréal–Trudeau
Air China	Beijing–Capital, Madrid
Air Europa	Madrid (resumes July 15, 2020)
Air France	Paris–Charles de Gaulle
Alitalia	Rome–Fiumicino
Amaszonas	Santa Cruz de la Sierra–Viru Viru (begins 11 June 2020)
American Airlines	Dallas/Fort Worth (resumes July 8, 2020), Los Angeles (resumes October 25, 2020), Miami (resumes July 7, 2020),, New York–JFK (resumes July 7, 2020)
Avianca	Bogotá
Azul Brazilian Airlines	Bauru/Arealva, Belém, Belo Horizonte–Confins, Brasília, Cuiabá, Curitiba, Florianópolis, Fortaleza, Foz do Iguaçu, Juazeiro do Norte, Maceió, Manaus, Porto Alegre, Ribeirão Preto, Recife, Rio de Janeiro–Santos Dumont, Salvador da Bahia, Vitória Seasonal: Jericoacoara
Boliviana de Aviación	Cochabamba, Santa Cruz de la Sierra–Viru Viru
British Airways	London–Heathrow
Copa Airlines	Panama City
Delta Air Lines	Atlanta, New York–JFK
Emirates	Dubai–International
Ethiopian Airlines	Addis Ababa, Buenos Aires–Ezeiza
Flybondi	Buenos Aires–El Palomar
Gol Transportes Aéreos	Aracaju, Araçatuba, Asunción, Belém, Belo Horizonte–Confins, Brasília, Buenos Aires–Ezeiza, Caldas Novas, Campo Grande, Cascavel, Chapecó, Cordoba, Cuiabá, Curitiba, Dourados, Florianópolis, Fortaleza, Foz do Iguaçu, Goiânia, Ilhéus, Jericoacoara, João Pessoa, Joinville, Juazeiro do Norte, Lima, Londrina, Maceió, Manaus, Maringá, Mendoza, Montes Claros, Montevideo, Natal, Navegantes, Passo Fundo, Petrolina, Presidente Prudente, Porto Alegre, Porto Seguro, Punta Cana, Recife, Rio de Janeiro–Galeão, Rio de Janeiro–Santos Dumont, Salvador da Bahia, Santa Cruz de la Sierra–Viru Viru, Santiago de Chile, São Luís, Sinop, Teresina, Uberlândia, Vitória, Vitória da Conquista Seasonal: Cabo Frio Seasonal Charter: Parintins
Gol Transportes Aéreos operated by VoePass	Rio Verde
Iberia	Madrid
JetSmart	Santiago de Chile
KLM	Amsterdam
LATAM Argentina	Buenos Aires–Ezeiza
LATAM Brasil	Aracaju, Asunción , Barcelona (resumes 1 August 2020), Bauru/Arealva, Belém, Belo Horizonte–Confins, Bogotá, Boston (resumes 1 August 2020), Brasília, Buenos Aires–Ezeiza, Campo Grande, Córdoba, Cuiabá, Curitiba, Florianópolis, Fortaleza, Foz do Iguaçu, Frankfurt, Goiânia, Ilhéus, João Pessoa, Johannesburg–O. R. Tambo (resumes 1 August 2020), Lima, Lisbon (resumes 17 July 2020), London–Heathrow (resumes 16 June 2020), Londrina, Maceió, Madrid (resumes 16 June 2020), Manaus, Maringá, Mendoza, Mexico City (resumes 15 July 2020), Miami, Milan–Malpensa (resumes 1 August 2020), Montevideo, Natal, Navegantes, New York–JFK (resumes 2 July 2020), Orlando, Paris–Charles de Gaulle (resumes 1 August 2020), Porto Alegre, Porto Seguro, Porto Velho, Punta del Este, Recife, Rio de Janeiro–Galeão, Rio de Janeiro–Santos Dumont, Salvador da Bahia, Santa Cruz de la Sierra–Viru Viru, Santiago de Chile, São José, São Luís, Teresina, Uberlândia, Vitória Seasonal: San Carlos de Bariloche, Stanley–Mount Pleasant
LATAM Chile	Santiago de Chile, Tel Aviv (resumes 1 August 2020)
LATAM Paraguay	Asunción
LATAM Perú	Lima
Lufthansa	Frankfurt, Munich
Qatar Airways	Buenos Aires–Ezeiza, Doha
Royal Air Maroc	Casablanca
Sky Airline	Santiago de Chile
Swiss International Air Lines	Zürich
TAAG Angola Airlines	Luanda
TAP Air Portugal	Lisbon, Porto
Turkish Airlines	Buenos Aires–Ezeiza, Istanbul
United Airlines	Chicago–O’Hare, Houston–Intercontinental (resumes August 3, 2020), Newark (resumes July 6, 2020), Washington–Dulles
VoePass	Ribeirão Preto, Uberlândia

Cargo

Airlines	Destinations
LATAM Cargo Brasil	Belém–Val de Cans, Belo Horizonte-Confins, Brasília, Cabo Frio, Campinas, Curitiba, Fortaleza, Manaus, Miami, Porto Alegre, Recife, Santiago do Chile, Vitória
Qatar Airways Cargo	Buenos Aires-Ezeiza, Doha, Luxembourg
Sideral Air Cargo	Brasília, Cuiabá, Fortaleza, Manaus, Recife, Rio de Janeiro–Galeão, Salvador
Total Linhas Aéreas	Curitiba–Afonso Pena, Florianópolis, Fortaleza, Porto Alegre, Vitória

Accidents and incidents

On January 28, 1986, a VASP Boeing 737-2A1 registered PP-SME flying from Guarulhos to Belo Horizonte unknowingly tried to take-off from Guarulhos, during foggy conditions, from a taxiway. The take-off was aborted, but the aircraft overran, collided with a dyke and broke in two. One passenger died.
On March 21, 1989, a Transbrasil cargo Boeing 707-349C registered PT-TCS operating flight 801, 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 (resulting in a stall). As a consequence the aircraft crashed approximately 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) from the airport. There were 25 fatalities, of which three were crew members and 22 were civilians on the ground. As well as the 22 fatalities, there were over 200 injured on the ground.
On March 2, 1996, a Madrid Táxi Aéreo Gates Learjet 25D registered PT-LSD transporting the Brazilian comedy band Mamonas Assassinas crashed into Cantareira mountain range, located north of the airport, at 23:16 local time killing all 9 passengers on board. The aircraft was on final approach to land on the runway 09R, but went around. As it flew toward the runway for a second attempt to land, the ATC instructed the pilots to make a right turn heading south, but they turned north (left) and crashed into the mountain range at 3,300 feet (1,000 m), 10.0 kilometres (6.2 mi) from the airport.
On September 14, 2002, a Total Linhas Aéreas ATR42-312 registered PT-MTS on a cargo flight between São Paulo-Guarulhos and Londrina crashed while en route near Paranapanema. The crew of 2 died.

Terminal 3 do Aeroporto Internacional de São Paulo-Guarulhos, Brasil.
Source:
Portal da Copa

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

Line 13 of the São Paulo commuter rail system, operated by CPTM, connects with the airport through Aeroporto-Guarulhos Station. This line started its operations experimentally on March 31, 2018. The line was opened initially on a trial phase and operates only on Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., with trains every 30 minutes to the suburban station of Engenheiro Goulart in eastern São Paulo city, from where a further connection with CPTM’s line 12 and at least another one by subway will be necessary to reach downtown and the main business areas. Service will be expanded in May 2018 to seven days a week, but still only from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Full service from 4 a.m. to midnight is expected in late June 2018.

Additionally, from late June 2018 there will be a “Connect” direct service to Brás railway station, linked to line 3-Red of the São Paulo Metro, and an “Airport Express” direct service to Luz station, linked to lines 1-Blue and 4-Yellow. However, the “Connect” service will only operate at peak hours (5 a.m.-9 a.m. and 4 p.m.-8 p.m.), and the “Airport Express” service will only have four departures a day.

Aeroporto-Guarulhos station is opposite Terminal 1, which is Guarulhos Airport’s smallest and least busy, and not linked to the other terminals except by a shuttle bus. The GRU Airport company reportedly vetoed a station closer to much busier Terminals 2 and 3 because it intended to build a shopping mall at the proposed location. The excessive number of complicated train changes through crowded commuter rail and subway lines, and the added inconvenience of the shuttle bus from Terminal 1 for most passengers, especially carrying luggage, has attracted criticism to the São Paulo state government, responsible for São Paulo’s subway and commuter rail systems, which has been accused of flawed planning and overindulgence with the airport’s private concessionaire.

Source: wikipedia