Government announces BRL 300 million investment in Rio airport

Photo: T Photography/Shutterstock

The federal government has earmarked BRL 300 million (USD 58 million) for infrastructure and security upgrades at the Santos Dumont Airport in Rio de Janeiro, Ports and Airports Minister Silvio Costa Filho announced on Monday. The tender is part of the New Growth Acceleration Program (PAC), aimed at enhancing the country’s infrastructure.

The enhancements encompass improvements in taxiing runways, the aircraft parking area, and the passenger terminal, as well as implementing a deceleration system on the landing strip.

Located at the city center, Santos Dumont has gobbled up most flights to and from Rio de Janeiro — leaving the Galeão International Airport, located to the north of the city on Ilha do Governador, struggling to reach profitability.

To help Galeão, the government has restricted routes to and from Santos Dumont, which will only operate flights to São Paulo’s Congonhas Airport and Vitória, in the neighboring state of Espírito Santo. The measure was originally slated to take effect in January 2024, but aviation regulators started enforcing it on Monday.

By December, Galeão’s passenger numbers are expected to surge by 56 percent.

Conversely, Santos Dumont anticipates a 22 percent reduction in passenger traffic in October and 30 percent in November — when compared to September.

“The problem is not of security or distance. The problem is that one airport is cannibalizing the other,” Rio de Janeiro Governor Marcelo Castro said during an event held in April to discuss the city’s airport conundrum.

Between 2004 and 2019, Galeão handled way more passengers than Santos Dumont. Passenger numbers were already in decline since 2013 — but never recovered from the Covid downturn.

Meanwhile, Changi, the controlling company of airport operator RIOgaleão, announced last year that it would return control of Rio’s international airport to the Brazilian federal government. The Singapore-based group backtracked in February this year but is now looking to renegotiate the terms of the concession.

Diogo Rodriguez

Diogo Rodriguez is a social scientist and journalist based in São Paulo. He worked in the first Brazilian Report team, back in 2017, leaving in 2018 to pursuit a master's degree from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY. He has returned to The Brazilian Report in 2023.