Galeão - Antônio Carlos Jobim International Airport

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Galeão - Antônio Carlos Jobim International Airport Galeão International Airport
IATA: GIG - ICAO: SBGL
Summary <tr><th colspan="2" align="left" valign="top">Airport type</th><td colspan="2" valign="top">Public/Military</td></tr><tr><th colspan="2" align="left" valign="top">Operator</th><td colspan="2" valign="top">Infraero and Brazilian Air Force</td></tr><tr><th colspan="2" align="left" valign="top">Serves</th><td colspan="2" valign="top">Rio de Janeiro</td></tr>
Elevation AMSL		28 ft (9 m)
Coordinates		22°48′32″S, 43°14′37″W
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
Direction	ft	m	Surface
10/28	13,123	4,000	Concrete
15/33	10,433	3,180	Asphalt

Galeão - Antônio Carlos Jobim International Airport (IATA: GIG, ICAO: SBGL) better known as Galeão International Airport is Rio de Janeiro's major international airport. The airport has its name appended after the late Brazilian artist Antônio Carlos Jobim.

Built in 1952 on Governador Island, thirty kilometres from the city center, the airport by 1970 was Brazil's major air-hub. In that year its administration was taken on by Infraero, recently created by the Brazilian government. In 1977, by which time it received all of Brazil's international flights, the airport underwent a major renovation. For passengers bound for São Paulo, Brazil's main domestic hub, then served only by the smaller Congonhas International Airport, this meant taking at least one connecting flight — two connecting flights if their destination was anywhere else in the country.

In 1985 the airport lost the title of Brazil's major international airport to São Paulo's Guarulhos International Airport, causing a drop in passengers to/from abroad. Nevertheless, Infraero built a second terminal at a cost of US$600 million, capable of handling 7.5 million passengers annually, more than doubling the airport's capacity. Since then, passenger numbers have been stable at about 4.5 million per year.

Galeão, as Infraero's second-most idle and money-losing airport (along with Confins International Airport), is considered by many to be a waste of resources. At the same time the new terminal was opened, Guarulhos was overloaded, operating at 102% of capacity, against the 24% of Galeão. Infraero was criticized for not investing resources appropriately. However, since late 2004, most flights from the overloaded Santos Dumont Regional Airport were reassigned to Galeão, and it currently uses 57% of its capacity.

The airport is also a second international hub for Varig.

[edit] General information

two terminals (in an elliptical format, with twelve jetways each) capable of handling 7.5 million passengers annually
2005 — 8.6 million passengers

[edit] Airlines served

Aerolineas Argentinas (Buenos Aires-Ezeiza)
Air Europa (Madrid)
Air France (Paris-Charles de Gaulle)
American Airlines (Miami, New York-JFK)
Avianca (Bogotá)
- Avianca operated by OceanAir (Brasília, Fortaleza, Juazeiro do Norte, Petrolina, Salvador, São Paulo-Congonhas, São Paulo-Guarulhos)
BRA Transportes Aéreos
British Airways (London-Heathrow)
Continental Airlines (Houston-Intercontinental)
Copa Airlines (Panama City) [starts Dec. 7, 2006]
Delta Air Lines (Atlanta)
Gol (Belem, Fortaleza, Manaus, Recife, Rosario, Porto Alegre, Salvador)
Iberia (Madrid)
Linhas Aéreas de Moçambique (Maputo)
LAN Airlines (Santiago)
- LANExpress (Santiago)
Pluna (Madrid, Montevideo)
TAM (Belo Horizonte-Confins, Brasília, Buenos Aires, Campinas, Curitiba, Florianopolis, Fortaleza, Natal, Porto Alegre, Porto Seguro, Recife, Salvador, São Paulo-Congonhas, São Paulo-Guarulhos, Santiago, Vitoria)
TAAG Air Angola (Luanda)
TAP Portugal (Lisbon, Porto)
United Airlines (Washington-Dulles)
Varig (Buenos Aires-Ezeiza, Frankfurt, São Paulo-Guarulhos)