A worldwide glitch in aircraft Global Positioning System receivers sparked chaos across Brazilian airports on September 24, forcing at least 80 cancellations and dozens of delays. Confins International Airport near Belo Horizonte recorded 34 cancelled departures, while Viracopos in Campinas saw 18. Recife and Rio’s Santos Dumont experienced knock-on disruptions. The fault affected certain navigation units used on Embraer E-Jets; the manufacturer said alternative procedures allowed safe operations but airlines grounded aircraft until recalibration was confirmed. The outage began late on 22 September and was resolved by the afternoon of the 24th, according to ANAC. Business travellers caught in the backlog reported re-routing via Brasília or overnight stays. Corporate travel teams scrambled to adjust itineraries as same-day connections evaporated. Logistics firms moving time-sensitive cargo through belly-hold capacity had to divert loads to road transport, illustrating how technical failures cascade through supply chains. ANAC says it will open a fact-finding investigation with the Airspace Control Department to determine whether redundancy protocols were followed and whether additional guidance on multi-constellation navigation (e.g., GALILEO or GLONASS) should be mandated. Experts predict airlines will accelerate retrofits to dual-frequency, multi-band receivers to cut single-system risk. For mobility managers, the incident underscores the value of contingency hotel and ground-transport contracts in secondary cities where capacity is tight.
Source: UNITV
