GRU Airport – Aeroporto Internacional de São Paulo

Orientation & Geography

South America, Brazil, Região Metropolitana de São Paulo

São Paulo/Guarulhos – Governor André Franco Montoro International Airport (IATA: GRU, ICAO: SBGR), nicknamed as Cumbica International Airport (after the former military airport in the same place), is a major Brazilian airport, the country's busiest by passenger traffic, located in the district of Cumbica, in the city of Guarulhos in Greater São Paulo. The airport is located 25 km (15 mi) from Downtown São Paulo. It began operations in 1985, supplanting São Paulo-Congonhas Airport as the city's primary airport. A hub in South America, Guarulhos is Brazil's busiest airport by passenger traffic, aircraft movements and cargo handled, handling 26,774,546 passengers, 250,492 aircraft movements and 357,847 metric tons of cargo in 2010. In fact, by cargo traffic, it is the third busiest airport in Latin America only exceeded by El Dorado International Airport of Bogotá and Mexico City International Airport. In 2010, Guarulhos airport handled more than 26.7 million passengers, compared with Congonhas' 15.5 million and Campinas' 5 million. In total over 47.7 million passengers used São Paulo-area airports, making the São Paulo-area the busiest airport system in Latin America in terms of passenger numbers and traffic movements. It is the busiest airport in Latin America by passenger traffic. However, this airport was put in the world's third place in number of delayed flights by Forbes magazine in January, 2008. Comprising 3,425 acres (14 km²), of which 5 km² is urbanized area, the airport's infrastructure has its own highway system: Rodovia Helio Smidt from the airport is connected to Rodovia Presidente Dutra and Rodovia Ayrton Senna. On 28 November 2001, a federal law changed the airport name to honor the ex-governor of São Paulo state, André Franco Montoro, deceased in 1999, although the official name is rarely used by locals, who normally refer to it as Guarulhos Airport or, even more commonly, just Cumbica, after the Guarulhos neighbourhood and name of the Brazilian Air Force base that exists at the site in which the airport was built. The Tropic of Capricorn passes directly through the southern tip of the airport.