Congonhas-Sao Paulo Airport

Congonhas/São Paulo Airport is one of the three commercial airports serving São Paulo, Brazil.

In 2010, the airport was ranked 2^nd in terms of transported passengers and aircraft operations, and 10^th in terms of cargo handled in Brazil, placing it amongst the busiest airports in the country. It is owned by the City of São Paulo and operated by Infraero.

Congonhas currently operates with slot restrictions of a maximum of 30 operations/hour, being one of the three airports with such restrictions in Brazil.

History

The name of the airport is derived from the neighborhood where it is located, formerly called Vila Congonhas, property of the descendants of Lucas Antônio Monteiro de Barros, Viscount of Congonhas do Campo, president of the Province of São Paulo during the Empire. The airport was initially planned in 1919, but it did not open until September 12, 1936. In the beginning it was the private airport of VASP, built as an alternative to Campo de Marte which, already at that time, had operational difficulties. By 1957, the airport was the third busiest in the world for air cargo.

On 21 May 1959 a formal agreement between Varig, Cruzeiro do Sul and VASP created the shuttle service, or "Ponte Aérea" in Portuguese. This service operated between Rio de Janeiro-Santos Dumont and Congonhas Airports. The service comprised regular hourly departures, a common check-in counter and simplified tickets...
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