Salgado Filho Airport in Porto Alegre (RS). Photo: Salgado Filho Airport/File/Disclosure
Commercial flights will resume from this Monday (21) at Salgado Filho Airport, in Porto Alegre, after around 170 days out of operation due to the damage caused by the rains that hit the state in April and May.
According to the government of Rio Grande do Sul, around 9 thousand passengers will travel on the first day of operation, which will feature 71 flights (37 departures and 34 arrivals).
According to Fraport, the concessionaire that manages the airport, the first routes cover flights to or from Brasília, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
The expectation is that movement will be expanded little by little, since, even operating with only part of the main runway, Salgado Filho already handles up to 128 domestic operations per day.
“Before Christmas, the airport will be 100% operational, [inclusive] with international flights”, assured the minister of the Social Communication Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic (Secom), Paulo Pimenta, in a video posted on social media.
“And we will maintain all this expansion of the airport network that we created in the interior of the state, during this period of difficulty”, added Pimenta, highlighting the importance of Salgado Filho for the reconstruction process and the resumption of economic activity in Rio Grande do Sul.
With the gradual return of operations, check-inbaggage check-in, boarding and disembarking of passengers will be done at the airport itself – temporarily, in the international area, with access through doors 5 and 6 on the second floor.
The first establishments in the food court will also start operating next week. Fraport’s forecast is to recover the entire landing and take-off runway and reestablish the first international flights by December 16th.
Concentration
Responsible for more than 90% of air traffic in Rio Grande do Sul, Salgado Filho Airport had to be completely closed on May 3, when the socio-environmental catastrophe that affected more than 2.34 million people in 468 of Rio’s 497 cities Grande do Sul, claiming at least 183 lives, flooded the landing and take-off runways and the passenger terminal.
In mid-July, Fraport Brasil partially resumed processing (check-in and arrivals) of passengers and security control at the airport, but customers continued to be transported, by bus, to/from the Canoas Air Base, around 10 kilometers away, from where the planes departed or arrived.
The closure of Salgado Filho highlighted the need for public and private investments in regional airports. And it led the concessionaire to ask the federal government for an extraordinary review of the concession contract, claiming that, with the interruption of activities and the need to repair the damage caused by the floods, it suffered a significant financial impact.
In August, the board of directors of the National Civil Aviation Agency (Anac) approved the release, by the Ministry of Ports and Airports, of R$425.96 million for the company.
On the 27th, the Palácio do Planalto authorized, through Provisional Measure No. 1,260, the Ministry of Ports and Airports to transfer to Fraport the amount approved by Anac. The money will be transferred to the concessionaire in installments, as the need for spending is proven. Consequently, the value can still be adjusted.
