Rio de Janeiro-Galeão International Airport
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| Rio de Janeiro/Galeão Antônio Carlos Jobim International Airport Aeroporto Internacional do Rio de Janeiro/Galeão Antônio Carlos Jobim |
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| IATA: GIG – ICAO: SBGL | |||
| Summary | |||
| Airport type | Public/Military | ||
| Operator | Infraero | ||
| Location | Rio de Janeiro | ||
| Elevation AMSL | 9 m / 28 ft | ||
| Coordinates | 22°48′32″S 43°14′37″W / 22.80889°S 43.24361°W | ||
| Runways | |||
| Direction | Length | Surface | |
| m | ft | ||
| 10/28 | 4,000 | 13,123 | Concrete |
| 15/33 | 3,180 | 10,433 | Asphalt |
Rio de Janeiro/Galeão - Antônio Carlos Jobim International Airport (IATA: GIG, ICAO: SBGL) better known as Galeão International Airport is Rio de Janeiro's major international airport and largest airport site in Brazil. The second name of the airport is in honor of Brazilian musician Antônio Carlos Jobim.
Built in 1952 on Governador Island, approximately twenty kilometres from the city center, by 1970 the airport was Brazil's major air-hub. In that year, its administration was assumed by Infraero, an agency recently created by the Brazilian government. In 1977, at which time it was receiving all of Brazil's major international flights, the airport underwent a major renovation.
In 1985 the airport lost the title of the country's major international airport to São Paulo-Guarulhos International Airport, due to a drop in passengers to/from abroad. Infraero built a second terminal on the site at a cost of US$ 600 million, which is capable of handling 7.5 million passengers annually, more than doubling the airport's capacity. Until 2004, passenger numbers had remained stable at about 4.5 million per year, but this number has subsequently increased. In 2008, Galeão International Airport handled 10,717,120 passengers and 130,597 aircraft movements, placing it 3rd busiest airport in the country by transported passengers.
Galeão was Infraero's second-most idle and money-losing airport (after Confins International Airport).[citation needed] At the time the new terminal was opened, Guarulhos was overloaded, operating at 102% of capacity, against 24% for Galeão. Infraero was criticized for not investing resources appropriately. However, since late 2004, most flights from the overloaded downtown Rio airport Santos Dumont Regional Airport were reassigned to Galeão.
Galeão airport is known for the sultry PA system announcements made by Iris Lettieri, who has been doing them for over 30 years. She was featured on NPR in 2007.[1]
The airport is also a second international hub for Varig.
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[edit] General information
The airport contains two terminals (in an elliptical format, with twelve jetways each) capable of handling 7.5 million passengers annually each terminal
- 2005 — 8.6 million passengers
- 2006 — 8.75 million passengers
- 2007 — 10,352,211 passengers
- 2008 — 10,717,120 passengers [2]
[edit] Airlines and destinations
| Airlines | Destinations |
|---|---|
| TERMINAL 1 | |
| Aerolineas Argentinas | Buenos Aires-Ezeiza |
| Air France | Paris-Charles de Gaulle |
| American Airlines | Miami, New York-JFK |
| British Airways | London-Heathrow |
| Continental Airlines | Houston-Intercontinental |
| Copa Airlines | Panama City |
| Delta Air Lines | Atlanta |
| Gol | Aracaju, Belém, Belo Horizonte-Confins, Brasília, Buenos Aires-Ezeiza, Campina Grande, Campinas-Viracopos, Córdoba, Curitiba, Florianópolis, Fortaleza, Foz do Iguaçu, Goiânia, João Pessoa, Juazeiro do Norte, Macapá, Maceió, Manaus, Maringá, Natal, Navegantes, Porto Alegre, Recife, Salvador da Bahia, Santiago de Chile, São Paulo-Congonhas, São Paulo-Guarulhos, Vitória |
| Iberia | Madrid |
| LAN Airlines | Santiago de Chile |
| TAAG Angola Airlines | Luanda |
| TACA Peru | Lima |
| Varig | Buenos Aires-Ezeiza |
| TERMINAL 2 | |
| PLUNA | Montevideo, Punta del Este [seasonal] |
| TAM | Belém, Belo Horizonte-Confins, Brasília, Buenos Aires-Ezeiza, Campinas-Viracopos, Caracas, Curitiba, Florianópolis, Fortaleza, Foz do Iguaçu, London-Heathrow, Maceió, Manaus, Miami, Natal, New York-JFK, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Porto Alegre, Recife, Salvador da Bahia, Santiago de Chile, São Luís, São Paulo-Congonhas, São Paulo-Guarulhos, Vitória |
| TAM Airlines (Paraguay) | Asunción, Buenos Aires-Ezeiza |
| TAP Portugal | Lisbon, Oporto |
| United Airlines | Washington-Dulles |
| US Airways | Charlotte [begins December 3] |
| WebJet Linhas Aéreas | Belo Horizonte-Confins, Curitiba, Fortaleza, Natal, Porto Alegre, Recife, Salvador da Bahia |
[edit] Accidents and incidents
- September 29, 2006: Gol Transportes Aéreos Flight 1907, flying from Manaus to Brasilia to Galeão International Airport, collided with a business jet on its first leg, fell, disintegrated in midair, and crashed into the Amazon in Mato Grosso, killing all of the passengers and crew on board
- June 1, 2009: Air France flight 447, an Airbus A330-200 enroute from Galeão International Airport to Paris, Charles de Gaulle Airport disappeared. Everyone on board is presumed dead.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Rio de Janeiro/Galeão - Antonio Carlos Jobim International Airport (official site, in English)
- Accident history for GIG at Aviation Safety Network
- Airport information for SBGL at Great Circle Mapper. Data current as of October 2006.
- Current weather for SBGL at NOAA/NWS
- Airport information for SBGL at World Aero Data. Data current as of October 2006.
Media related to Rio de Janeiro/Galeão - Antônio Carlos Jobim International Airport at Wikimedia Commons
