Tancredo Neves International Airport

Tancredo Neves/Confins International Airport
Aeroporto Internacional Tancredo Neves/Confins
IATA: CNF – ICAO: SBCF
Summary
Airport type Public
Operator BH Airport
Serves Belo Horizonte
Location Confins, Brazil
Hub for

Azul Brazilian Airlines

Gol Transportes Aéreos
Focus city for TAM Airlines
Elevation AMSL 827 m / 2,713 ft
Coordinates 19°37′26″S 043°58′17″W / 19.62389°S 43.97139°WCoordinates: 19°37′26″S 043°58′17″W / 19.62389°S 43.97139°W
Website bh-airport.com.br/
Map
CNF

Location in Brazil

Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
16/34 3,000 9,843 Asphalt
Statistics (2013)
Passengers 10,301,288
Aircraft Operations 109,257
Metric tonnes of cargo 12,223
Statistics: Infraero[1]
Sources: Airport Website,[2] ANAC[3]

Tancredo Neves/Confins International Airport (IATA: CNF, ICAO: SBCF), formerly called Confins International Airport, is the main airport serving Belo Horizonte and Metropolitan Area, Brazil, located in the adjoining municipality of Confins. Since 2 September 1986 the airport is named after Tancredo de Almeida Neves (1910–1985), President-elect of Brazil.[4]

It is operated by BH Airport S.A..

History

The airport was built by Infraero and inaugurated in 1984. Its purpose was to lessen the congestion at Pampulha Airport, which at the time was operating at 120% of its capacity of 1.3 million passengers per year. It was expected that by 1990, passenger movement at Confins would be nearly 2 million passengers per year. However, it surpassed the 1 million passenger mark only 22 years later. Presently its maximum operational capacity is 5 million passengers per year.[5]

After its inauguration, just a small fraction of the capacity of Confins was used. This was partly due to its distance from downtown Belo Horizonte and, until recently, to the lack of satisfactory transportation alternatives for the pricey (about USD40) taxi rides. The over-crowded Pampulha Airport remained the airport of choice.

In order to revert this scenario, in March 2005 the government of the state of Minas Gerais with the support of agencies of the Federal government decided to restrict Pampulha to operations of aircraft with capacity of up to 50 passengers.[6] In the months thereafter, most operations were forced to move to Confins and the airport gained a new momentum. At that time, 130 flights were transferred from Pampulha to Confins, increasing annual passenger flow from 350,000 to around 3.0 million that year.

The problems related to the distance of Confins to downtown Belo Horizonte were lessened by recent projects such as the improvement of the highway that links the city center to the airport (MG-10 highway), part of a larger project called Linha Verde (Green Line), which seeks to reduce the time needed to reach the airport.[7] Another project called the "Industrial Airport" in underway. In this project the government will exempt tax of businesses interested in settling their operations near the airport.[8]

Its cargo facilities have a capacity of handling 18.000 tones (39.682.000 lb) and the warehouse has 6.400 m² (68.889 ft²).

The main maintenance facilities of Gol Airlines are located at this airport.[9]

On 26 April 2011 it was confirmed that in order to speed-up much needed renovation and up-grade works, private companies will be granted a concession to explore some Infraero airports among them, on a second phase, Confins.[10] The plan was confirmed on 31 May 2011 and it was added that Infraero would retain 49% of the shares of each privatized airport and that negotioations are expected to be concluded on the first half of 2012.[11]

On 22 November 2013 the Brazilian Government had a bidding process to determine the operator of the airport from 2014 until 2044. The group BH Airport formed by CCR (75%) and the administrator of Munich and Zurich Airports (25%) won the competition.[12][13]

Future developments

On 31 August 2009, the previous concessionary, Infraero, unveiled a BRL342.3 million (USD180.3 million; EUR126.4 million) investment plan to up-grade Tancredo Neves International Airport focusing on the preparations for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The investiment was supposed to be distributed as follows:[14]

Presently, the extension of the runway and the renovation of the passenger terminal are still being implemented.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Airlines Destinations
Aerolíneas Argentinas
operated by Austral Líneas Aéreas 		Buenos Aires-Ezeiza
American Airlines Miami
Avianca Brazil Brasília, São Paulo-Congonhas, São Paulo-Guarulhos
Azul Brazilian Airlines Aracaju, Belém, Brasília, Campinas, Campo Grande, Carajás, Cuiabá, Curitiba, Feira de Santana, Florianópolis, Fortaleza, Goiânia, Ipatinga, Londrina, Maceió, Manaus, Marabá, Montes Claros, Natal, Palmas, Porto Alegre, Porto Seguro, Porto Velho, Recife, Rio Branco, Rio de Janeiro-Santos Dumont, Rio de Janeiro-Galeão, Salvador da Bahia, São Luís, São Paulo-Congonhas, São Paulo-Guarulhos, Teixeira de Freitas, Ilhéus, Teresina, Uberaba, Uberlândia, Vitória
Seasonal: Cabo Frio
Copa Airlines Panama City
Gol Transportes Aéreos Brasília, Campinas, Campo Grande, Curitiba, Florianópolis, Fortaleza, Foz do Iguaçu, Goiânia, Ilhéus, João Pessoa, Juiz de Fora/Zona da Mata, Maceió, Montes Claros, Natal, Porto Alegre, Porto Seguro, Punta Cana, Recife, Rio de Janeiro-Galeão, Rio de Janeiro-Santos Dumont, Salvador da Bahia, São Paulo-Congonhas, São Paulo-Guarulhos, Uberlândia, Vitória
Seasonal: Santiago (begins 4 July 2015) [16]
TAM Airlines Brasília, Campinas, Curitiba, Fortaleza, Miami, Natal, Porto Alegre, Porto Seguro, Recife, Rio de Janeiro-Galeão, Rio de Janeiro-Santos Dumont, Salvador da Bahia, São Paulo-Congonhas, São Paulo-Guarulhos, Vitória
TAP Portugal Lisbon

Cargo

Airlines Destinations
Total Linhas Aéreas Fortaleza, Salvador da Bahia, São Paulo-Guarulhos
ABSA Cargo Campinas, Fortaleza, Miami
Florida West Miami
Mas Air Miami
LAN Cargo Campinas, Miami

Accidents and incidents

Access

The airport is located 38 km (24 mi) north of downtown Belo Horizonte. It is regularly served by buses, taxis and Executive Airport Shuttle Buses. When using buses, transfer to the subway of Belo Horizonte is possible. Tickets are available at booths in the arrivals area.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Movimento operacional da rede Infraero de janeiro a dezembro de 2013" (PDF) (in Portuguese). Infraero. 4 February 2014. Retrieved 23 June 2014.
  2. ↑ "Airport Official Website" (in Portuguese). Infraero.
  3. ↑ "Lista de aeródromos públicos" (in Portuguese). ANAC.
  4. ↑ "Lei n˚7.534, de 2 de setembro de 1986" (in Portuguese). Soleis. 2 September 1986. Retrieved 17 May 2011.
  5. ↑ "Aeroporto Internacional Tancredo Neves: Histórico" (in Portuguese). Infraero. Retrieved 19 May 2011.
  6. ↑ "Portaria n 189/DGAC, de 8 de março de 2005" (PDF) (in Portuguese). Ministério da Aeronáutica; Departamento de Aviação Civil. 10 March 2005. Retrieved 16 May 2011.
  7. ↑ "Linha Verde: O maior conjunto de obras em Belo Horizonte" (in Portuguese). Sociedade Mineira de Engenheiros. 1 June 2001. Retrieved 19 May 2011.
  8. ↑ "Governo e iniciativa privada debatem aeroporto industrial" (in Portuguese). Governo de Minas: Secretaria de Estado de Desenvolvimento Econômico. Retrieved 19 May 2011.
  9. ↑ "Brazil MRO sector poised for major expansion". Flightglobal. 6 July 2010. Retrieved 6 July 2010.
  10. ↑ Bitencourt, Rafael (26 April 2011). "Governo define concessão de obras em 3 aeroportos, diz Palocci" (in Portuguese). Valor Online. Retrieved 16 May 2011.
  11. ↑ Salomon, Marta; Monteiro, Tânia (1 June 2011). "Governo pretende privatizar três aeroportos e abrir o capital da Infraero" (in Portuguese). O Estado de São Paulo: Economia. Retrieved 2 June 2011.
  12. ↑ Sakate, Marcelo (27 November 2013). "A privatização decola" [Privatization takes-off]. Veja (in Portuguese) (São Paulo) 46 (48): 98.
  13. ↑ "BH Aiport [sic] assina contrato de concessão do Aeroporto Internacional de Belo Horizonte, em Confins" (PDF) (in Portuguese). 7 April 2014. p. 2. Retrieved 30 April 2014.
  14. ↑ Rittner, Daniel; Braga, Paulo Victor (31 August 2009). "Infraero vai gastar R$5 bi em reforma de aeroportos". Valor Econômico (in Portuguese). pp. A4.
  15. ↑ "Aeroporto de Confins (MG) amplia estacionamento de veículos" (in Portuguese). Jornal de Turismo. 26 July 2010. Retrieved 5 September 2010.
  16. ↑ http://airlineroute.net/2015/04/23/g3-scl-jul15/
  17. ↑ "Accident description PT-MRN". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 23 May 2011.
  18. ↑ Marra, Lívia (16 September 2001). "Avião da TAM acidentado em Minas havia sido revisado no mês passado" (in Portuguese). Folha Online. Retrieved 23 May 2011.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tancredo Neves International Airport.