Airliner World – May 2018

http://www.airlinerworld.com 73

moved to Galeão from Santos Dumont.

Two years later, it crossed the 10 million

passenger mark for the first time and

continued to grow steadily until 2012,

its best year to date when it handled

17,491,744 people. Passenger numbers

have been falling subsequently (except

for 2014 when they climbed above 17m

again) and last year the airport

recorded a through-put of 16,243,253.

The decline has been attributed to the

economic and political crisis Brazil has

been suffering with two consecutive

years of negative growth during

which the nation’s economy shrank by

almost 8%.

Now having one of the world’s leading

operators – Changi Airports – onboard

and with upgraded facilities in place,

Tom Jobim International is primed for

the future. It has the additional

capacity for growth, with Terminal 1

ready to be re-activated when needed,

to become a true regional hub, a role

it currently fills to a limited extent.

Despite longer distances for passengers

to walk to their gates in the South Pier,

the overall appearance of GIG and the

additional retail outlets and restaurants

has vastly improved the facility

compared with only a few years ago.

As Brazil starts to recover from the

worst recession in the country’s history

it will be interesting to follow the efforts

of the RIOgaleão consortium’s efforts to

attract new carriers and services to the

airport. However, it still has one major

advantage over its rivals – the Rio de

Janeiro effect – it is still one of the

world’s most beautiful cities.

On short finals onto
Galeão’s Runway 28,
LATAM Airbus A321-231,
PT-MXE delivers more
visitors to Rio de Janeiro.

Business aviation is
playing an increas-
ingly significant role at
Galeão. This Embraer
Phenom 300, PR-BJA (c/n
50500178), belonging to
Brasil Jato Táxi Aéreo, a
Rio-based air taxi com-
pany was present during
the author’s visit.