Azul Linhas Aéreas was forced to cancel 34 flights at Belo Horizonte/Confins International Airport (CNF) between the evening of 22 September and the morning of 24 September after a worldwide malfunction hit Honeywell GPS receivers installed on Embraer E195-E2 jets, the backbone of the carrier’s domestic network. According to airport operator BH Airport, 30 cancellations occurred on Tuesday night, with a further four on Wednesday morning before operations gradually returned to normal. In a statement, Azul said the loss of satellite-navigation data rendered the aircraft ineligible for departure under Brazilian flight regulations, leaving no option but to ground affected airframes until the equipment was reset and safety checks completed. Passengers were offered hotel accommodation, meal vouchers and re-routing in line with ANAC Resolution 400. The airline emphasised that “safety is always our number-one value,” and thanked travellers for their patience. The outage is part of a broader technical issue that has affected carriers in several regions. Honeywell confirmed that engineering teams are working on a permanent software fix for the receiver firmware and advised operators to perform power-cycle resets as a temporary workaround. Embraer has also issued a service bulletin detailing inspection procedures and recommending alternative navigation methods when GPS is unavailable. For corporate mobility managers, the disruption is a reminder of the growing dependence on satellite systems and the importance of contingency planning. Companies with tight domestic travel schedules—especially those connecting mining, agribusiness and technology hubs through Confins—should review their travel-duty-of-care protocols and ensure travellers are subscribed to airline and airport alert services. Looking ahead, Azul says it expects to recover its full schedule by the weekend, but warns that isolated delays may occur until the fleetwide software update is complete. Travellers connecting onward to international flights from São Paulo or Rio are advised to allow extra buffer time in their itineraries.
Source: Estado de Minas
