Galeão expected to receive 27% more passengers with new restrictions
The restriction of passengers at Santos Dumont Airport in downtown Rio de Janeiro, which began on Tuesday, is expected to contribute to the growth of air traffic at Galeão, the city’s international terminal, by 2024.According to projections by specialists and the concessionaire that operates Galeão, controlled by the Singaporean company Changi, the number of travelers in the first months of the year will double compared to 2023, and the terminal could handle more than 10 million people in 2024, an increase of 26.5% compared to the 7.9 million passengers in 2023.Since January 2, operations at Santos Dumont have had to comply with an annual limit of 6.5 million passengers set by a federal government decree. The measure aims to stimulate activity at Galeão, which has been emptying in recent years, while Santos Dumont has been operating at its capacity limit of 10 million passengers per year.The decree, published in November by Silvio Costa Filho, Minister of Ports and Airports, overturned a previous regulation signed by his predecessor, Márcio França, which, as of this month, limited flights taking off and landing at Santos Dumont to a maximum distance of 400 kilometers.The imposition of a perimeter was overturned because it conflicted with the legal system that governs the country’s airline industry and allows companies to decide where to fly. "It was a very balanced decision that respected current legislation," said Delmo Pinho, Rio’s former secretary of transportation and a member of the working group that discussed coordinating Rio’s major airports.The restriction of Santos Dumont was the result of intense pressure from Mayor Eduardo Paes and other Rio authorities, who pointed to a cannibalistic relationship between the two airports, which are separated by less than 20 kilometers.Santos Dumont, controlled by Infraero, is congested and, according to preliminary data, will receive at least 10 million passengers in 2023. Galeão, on the other hand, is underutilized, registering 7.9 million people in the same 12 months, far below its total capacity of 37 million passengers.However, this figure represents a 35% increase compared to 2022. In that year, 5.8 million people passed through the lounge of the international airport. The transfer of flights from Santos Dumont to Galeão had its first phase in October 2023, when airlines began to...
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