Thick pre-dawn fog forced Belo Horizonte’s Confins International Airport to suspend operations for more than four hours on Friday, 12 June, cancelling 27 flights—18 arrivals and nine departures—operated by Azul and Gol. Visibility dropped below the minimum-safe threshold at 04:50 and only improved after 09:00, the airport concessionaire BH Airport said in a statement. Services to and from major business destinations such as São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador and Curitiba were axed or heavily delayed, stranding hundreds of passengers at the start of a long weekend that coincides with Valentine’s Day in Brazil and the opening weekend of the World Cup. Airlines offered fee-free rebooking, but seats later in the day were scarce as flights were already close to capacity.
![Fog grounds 27 flights at Belo Horizonte Confins; airport back to normal but rebooking advised]()
While weather disruptions can throw travel plans into disarray, securing the right travel documents shouldn't add to the stress. VisaHQ’s Brazil portal (https://www.visahq.com/brazil/) streamlines visa and passport services for corporate teams and individual travelers alike, allowing companies to delegate paperwork and focus on contingency planning for events like unexpected airport closures.
For corporate mobility planners the disruption is a reminder that June’s transition-season weather in Brazil’s Southeast can upset tight itineraries. Companies moving staff or equipment through Confins—an important hub for the mining and technology sectors—should build buffer time and monitor the airport’s CAT III instrument-landing-system upgrade, scheduled for completion only in late 2027. Operations had normalised by midday, yet BH Airport urged travellers to confirm updated schedules and arrive early because of possible knock-on delays in crew-duty rosters. The incident follows two other fog-related shutdowns at Confins this year and renews calls for better low-visibility procedures across Brazil’s inland airports.
While weather disruptions can throw travel plans into disarray, securing the right travel documents shouldn't add to the stress. VisaHQ’s Brazil portal (https://www.visahq.com/brazil/) streamlines visa and passport services for corporate teams and individual travelers alike, allowing companies to delegate paperwork and focus on contingency planning for events like unexpected airport closures.
For corporate mobility planners the disruption is a reminder that June’s transition-season weather in Brazil’s Southeast can upset tight itineraries. Companies moving staff or equipment through Confins—an important hub for the mining and technology sectors—should build buffer time and monitor the airport’s CAT III instrument-landing-system upgrade, scheduled for completion only in late 2027. Operations had normalised by midday, yet BH Airport urged travellers to confirm updated schedules and arrive early because of possible knock-on delays in crew-duty rosters. The incident follows two other fog-related shutdowns at Confins this year and renews calls for better low-visibility procedures across Brazil’s inland airports.
