São Paulo–Congonhas Airport

São Paulo/Congonhas–Deputado Freitas Nobre Airport (IATA: CGH, ICAO: SBSP) Portuguese pronunciation: [kõˈɡõɲɐs] is one of the four commercial airports serving São Paulo, Brazil. The airport is named after the neighborhood where it is located, called Vila Congonhas, property of the descendants of Lucas Antônio Monteiro de Barros (1767–1851), Viscount of Congonhas do Campo, first president of the province of São Paulo after the independence of Brazil in 1822, during the Empire. In turn, the Viscount's domain was named after the plural of a shrub known in Brazil as congonha-do-campo (Luxemburgia polyandra, of the Ochnaceae family). Since June 19, 2017, it is officially named after Deputy José Freitas Nobre. The name Congonhas, however, remains mostly used. It is owned by the City of São Paulo.
The airport is operated by AENA.
Congonhas has slot restrictions operating with a maximum of 30 operations/hour, being one of the five airports with such restrictions in Brazil. In 2022, it was the second busiest airport in Brazil by passenger traffic, after São Paulo–Guarulhos.
The airport was initially planned in 1919, but it did not open until 12 April 1936. The site was outside the built-up urban area at the time, and it was chosen because it had favourable winds and lay on a high hill with little vegetation. The airport was opened with a 300-metre (984-ft.) long dirt runway. In the beginning it was the private airport of VASP, built as an alternative to Campo de Marte which, already at that time, had operational difficulties. VASP started services to Rio de Janeiro on 5 August 1936, advertising two daily round trips of 90 minutes' flight time in each direction, starting a route that would eventually become one of the world's busiest. By 1957, the airport was the third busiest in the world for air cargo. During the 1950s, Congonhas served all international flights to/from São Paulo, as its runways could accommodate the Lockheed Constellations, Douglas DC-6s, and Douglas DC-7s in use at that time. As early jets such as the Convair 880, Convair 990, Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8 were bought by airlines, all long-haul travel shifted to Viracopos Airport, and the European airlines left Congonhas forever.
On 21 May 1959, a formal agreement between Varig, Cruzeiro do Sul and VASP created the shuttle service to Rio de Janeiro that made the airport famous, being the first of its kind in the world. The service was called Air Bridge (Portuguese: Ponte Aérea), inspired on the Berlin Airlift; its first flight was operated on 6 July 1959. It operated between Rio de Janeiro–Santos Dumont and Congonhas Airports and comprised regular departures, usually every half-hour, a common check-in counter and simplified tickets and formalities. The service was an instant success. Sadia, later known as Transbrasil, joined the partnership in 1968. In 1999 the service was discontinued, as more competitive economic times made airlines decide to operate their services independently on that route.
Until 1985, Congonhas was the main airport of São Paulo operating domestic flights, as well as international service to neighbouring countries such as Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile, Peru and Bolivia. Due to Congonhas' short runways, unable to accommodate most long-haul jets, intercontinental flights required changing planes at Rio de Janeiro–Galeão or were operated at Viracopos Airport. However, Viracopos' distant location, in Campinas, 97 km (60 mi) from downtown São Paulo, made that choice inconvenient both for passengers and for airlines, so a connection in Rio was usually preferred.
Since the opening of Guarulhos Airport in 1985, international flights no longer operate from Congonhas, and domestic operations have undergone restrictions. Congonhas remains important to the city for regional and short-distance domestic flights. Given the concentration of Brazil's economy in the Central-Southern region, where São Paulo is located, such flights make up the greatest share of the country's domestic air traffic. Therefore, even after Guarulhos International Airport was opened, Congonhas continued to face congestion problems, regarding both the number of passengers and the number of flight operations. Yet the convenience of its short distance from downtown and from the major business areas of Paulista, Faria Lima and Luís Carlos Berrini avenues still makes Congonhas a favorite of passengers, especially business travelers.
The airport administrator, Infraero, started in 2003 a comprehensive renovation plan of the airport complex. A remodeling of departure and arrival halls with installation of 12 jetways was completed on 15 August 2004. In December 2005, a new parking garage was opened. The runways were resurfaced between February and September 2007. Runway length has not been extended because of the rapid growth of São Paulo, which has completely surrounded the airport.
The airport has been troubled by slippery runways and has had several accidents where water accumulation has been a significant factor, the most notable being the one involving TAM Airlines Flight 3054 on 17 July 2007: although the main runway had been repaved in June 2007, its new rainwater drainage grooves were only finished in September 2007. As a consequence of this accident and the subsequent public outcry for better safety performance and noise reduction, the airport's operations were significantly altered, through restrictions in the number of landing slots, flight distances, and operating times (presently from 6:00 to 22:30 hours). Furthermore, the maximum allowable gross weight of aircraft was reduced.
The largest aircraft now operating at Congonhas are the Airbus A320 and the Boeing 737-800. However, in the past the airport used to have operations with Douglas DC-8 Vasp Cargo, Airbus A300 wide-body aircraft, by the now-defunct airlines Cruzeiro do Sul, Varig, VASP and Boeing 767-200 of also former Trans-Brasil.
In 2008 Congonhas lost its designation as an international airport, after it was decided that the operations had to be scaled down after an aircraft crashed there in 2007, killing 199 people.
On 31 August 2009, Infraero unveiled a R$164.7 million (US$86.8 million; EUR 60.8 million) investment plan to up-grade Congonhas Airport focusing on the preparations for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, which were held in Brazil, São Paulo being one of the venue cities. The investment involved a new control tower, renovation of the apron, conclusion of the renovation on the south portion of the passenger terminal, and renovation of the north portion of the passenger terminal.
The central hall of the passenger terminal is considered one of the most outstanding examples of modern architecture in São Paulo. However, modernizing and enlargement work has been conducted at the terminal from 2003 onwards, while trying to preserve the look of the older, historic section. Today the main terminal has 51,535 m (554,718 sq.ft) of space.
Previously operated by Infraero, on August 18, 2022, the consortium AENA won a 30-year concession to operate the airport.
Following is the number of passenger, aircraft and cargo movements at the airport, according to Infraero (2007-2022) and AENA (2023-2024) reports:
The airport is located 8 km (5 mi) from downtown São Paulo, at Washington Luís Avenue, in the district of Campo Belo.
Azul Brazilian Airlines offers free bus transfers for its passengers between Congonhas and Campinas-Viracopos International Airport during regular times.
Gol Airlines and TAM Airlines offer free bus transfers for their passengers between Congonhas and Guarulhos/Gov. André Franco Montoro Airport airports during regular times.
Further bus transportation is also available through the Airport Bus Service, an executive bus line, administered by EMTU and operated by Consórcio Internorte – Área 3. This service provides transportation between Guarulhos and Congonhas airports, via Tietê Bus Terminal, Palmeiras-Barra Funda Intermodal Terminal, Itaim Bibi, Praça da República, Tatuapé Metro Station and the circuit of hotels along Avenida Paulista and Rua Augusta. The ride takes about one hour, depending on traffic.