Viracopos International Airport in Campinas expects to handle 248,000 passengers between 8 and 15 July, a 14 % jump on the same period last year, according to figures released on 8 July. The spike is driven by the 9 July Revolution Day long weekend—São Paulo state’s only July holiday—and coincides with school winter breaks. Operator Aeroportos Brasil Viracopos has authorised 160 extra domestic take-offs and landings and extended runway slots for its busiest international routes to Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, Lisbon, Porto and Madrid. Azul, which maintains its main hub at the airport, has added wide-body A330 services to Orlando and Lisbon and up-gauged seasonal flights to Bariloche and Mendoza to meet ski-season demand. To absorb the surge, the airport has reopened four dormant security lanes, deployed an additional 120 staff and installed mobile passport booths for the Federal Police. Queue-time targets have been cut to ten minutes for domestic travellers and 20 minutes for international arrivals, matching benchmarks at São Paulo-Guarulhos. For corporate travel managers the message is plan for congestion: peak departure windows on 11 July (Sunday return) are forecast at 07:00–10:00 and 18:00–22:00. Azul and LATAM will allow free re-booking within seven days for passengers with connections through São Paulo should weather or ATC restrictions cause cascading delays. The holiday rush is also a dry-run for Brazil’s World Cup qualifiers in September, when Viracopos is slated to become the main charter gateway for teams playing in the southeast. Lessons learned this weekend on staffing and slot flexibility will inform ANAC’s operational playbook for that event.
Source: Sampi Campinas
