Runway Renovation Will Restrict Flights at Santos Dumont Airport in Rio

By Contributing Reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Infraero announced, on Monday, June 17th, a month-long renovation, between August 12th and September 12th, of the main runway of the Santos Dumont airport in downtown Rio.

The works will reduce the number of seats offered on flights to or from the airport, including the shuttle flights to and from São Paulo’s Congonhas airport — the busiest route in the country, according to the National Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC).

The reason is that only the auxiliary runway will be used during the works. It is 1,260 meters (4,134 feet) long, while the main track is 1,323 meters long.

The restriction (weight and size of aircraft) will preclude the use of Latam’s Airbus A319 and Gol’s Boeing 737-800, currently the two most-used aircraft at the airport. Neither of them is approved to operate on the auxiliary runway.

In Latam’s case, nearly 60 daily flights to and from Santos Dumont will be canceled — the company does not operate aircraft smaller than the A319. The company has already suspended sales during the period. Latam says that “any changes in its operations will be announced in due course.”

“O Globo” reported at the end of May that the company would transfer flights to Rio’s Galeão international airport during the renovation works.

Both the ATR-72 and E-195 models flown by Azul, and a smaller version of the Boeing 737 used Gol (737-700, for up to 138 passengers), are allowed to operate on Santos Dumont’s auxiliary runway. It is not yet clear, however, whether operation of these aircraft will continue during the works.

According to Infraero, the runway pavement will be the same as the one currently used, having a porous layer of friction causing material.

The last works on the main runway occurred in 2009. The projected durability of the new track will also be 10 years, says Infraero.