Air Travel in Brazil

I've flown into and out of both major commercial airports in Rio de Janeiro (Santos Dumont and Tom Jobim aka Galeão) and Belo Horizonte (Confins and Pampulha), but have never flown out of Congonhas Airport in São Paulo and based on what Mr. Trend describes as his experience here, I suppose I should count my blessings, not to mention yesterday's horrific and tragic crash there.

I agree with Mr. Trend: Congonhas should be closed, or in my opinion, at minimum should have nothing larger than a regional jet service land there. It is located in a densely populated area and strikes me as a prescription for disaster.

The problem, of course is the fact that Congonhas is the busiest airport in Brazil. The  larger international airport near São Paulo in the town of Guarulhos, commonly referred to as Cumbica could not possibly handle the traffic in addition to the intercontinental flights it now handles. Moreover, Cumbica in the indigenous Tupi language means "where the clouds descend," and low clouds are a major problem there. See for yourself (but mute the sound to avoid James Blunt):

I also found a video of an A320 - the same type of plan that crashed last night  - making its approach to Congonhas.

I'm not a nervous flyer, but that approach would make me one.

Brazil makes great aircraft. Embraer is effectively dominating the regional jet market. The government must now step up to the task of providing reliable infrastructure. Lives are depending on it.

Comments

[Anna Fagundes]

Congonhas has the nickname "Paliteiro" - toothpick box - because of the buildings surrounding the place. My family has to fly from there quite often and it's usually hell on Earth.

But this is América Latina - do you want to bet that the governement won't budge? Lives are depending on it, of course. But since when does that count?

(sorry - I'm in an awful mood. After all, I live in São Paulo!)

[Randy Paul]

Anna,

Saiu Inglaterra? I understand your cynicism, I just hope you're wrong.

Hang in there.

[leftside]

Amazing how this became about Lula and politics in about 7 seconds. We know who the left, right and center is blaming - but who is Lula gonna blame tomorrow? I say the military - and the pilot.