Brazilian airports are losing their last call

Works being developed in at least half of the airports of the cities where the matches of World Cup 2014 will be carried out are delayed and will not be completely delivered in time for the championship

Less than three months before the opening ceremony of Fifa’s World Cup 2014, the country does not know if the Brazilian airport system—that is already operating near the limit of its capacity—will be able to attend the huge increase of demand caused by the increase in the movement of cheerers, athletes and journalists of the whole world among the cities where matches will occur. The hotsite http://obras.infraero.gov.br recently created by the Empresa Brasileira de Infraestrutura Aeroportuária – Infraero (public Brazilian company for airport management) to show the updated status of each work leads to conclude that at least half of the works in the airports of these cities will not be finished  for the World Championship.

One of them is the Galeão Airport, in Rio de Janeiro, where the works in the terminal will proceed until January, 2015. In the Confins Airport, in Belo Horizonte, works are scheduled to be finished in November. In Curitiba, the situation is even worse: the conclusion of works will occur in March, 2016. In the Salgado Filho Airport, in Porto Alegre, part of the works will be finished in November and the remaining works will be finished only in 2016. In the airport of Recife, the refurbishment of the control tower has no date to be started. And in the Pinto Martins Airport, in Fortaleza, works will be completed only in September, 2017, nine months before the next World Cup, to be carried out in Russia in June, 2018.

Among the terminals that are following their schedules are the airports of Manaus, Salvador and Cuiabá—to be concluded in April—and the Augusto Severo Airport, in Natal, to be finished in May.

Works in the airports of Viracopos (in Campinas, SP), Guarulhos (in São Paulo, SP) and Brasília—that became private in 2012—will be concluded on scheduled times and will be operating before the World Cup.

According to the hotsite of Infraero, the refurbishing and enlargement works of the Cargo Terminal of the Afonso Pena International Airport, in Curitiba (PR) were concluded in 2013, as well as the expansion of taxi runways and aircraft yard of the International Airport of Macapá (AP) and the expansion of the aircraft yards of the International Airport of Salvador (BA) and of the International Airport Pinto Martins, in Fortaleza (CE).

Civil works of Passenger Terminal 4 and earthmoving works of the Passenger terminal 3 of the International Airport of São Paulo – Guarulhos were concluded in 2012, as well as the installation of the Operating Module of Salgado Filho Airport, in Porto Alegre (RS), the installation of the Operating Module 2 and the refurbishment of the Main Building of the International Airport of Brasília (DF) and the restoration of the landing runway of the Afonso Pena International Airport, in Curitiba (PR).

According with Infraero, the Operating Modules of the Guarulhos International Airport (SP), the International Airport of Campinas/Viracopos (SP), the Marechal Rondon International Airport, in Cuiabá (MT), the Santa Genoveva Airport, in Goiânia (GO) and the Airport of Vitória (ES) started to operate in 2013. Works of the first phase of the Runway System and Aircraft Yard of the Airport of São Gonçalo do Amarante, in Natal (RN), the last phase of the Connecting Alley of the International Airport of Recife/Guararapes and the refurbishment and expansion of the Runway System of the International Airport of Guarulhos also started to operate in the last year.

Fear of “blackout”

According to the Institute of Applied Economic Research (Ipea), 12 of the 20 largest airports of the country—responsible by 90 percent of passenger movement—are already operating above its maximum installed capacity and other five are operating close to this limit. To make things more difficult, air companies associated to the Brazilian Association of Air Companies (Abear) noticed that they will make available nothing less than 16,000 extra flights during the championship, enough to transport about 7.2 million passengers.

According to Abear, flights from and to the cities where matches will be carried out will increase more than 31 percent, what corresponds to an increase of 9.7 percent in the total of flights offered. This means 645,000 new seats to be added to the existing 6.6 million. São Paulo will have the highest flow of people in the airport terminals, expecting 2.8 million seats in the airports of Congonhas, Guarulhos and Viracopos. In the second place comes Rio de Janeiro, with 89,000 extra seats for the terminals of Galeão and Santos Dumont, reaching a total offer of 881,000 seats. In Belo Horizonte, the airports of Pampulha and Confins will operate 873,000 seats with 789 extra flights only during the matches. And the airport of Brasília will have an increase of 64 percent in the number of take-offs and landings during the Cup, corresponding to 5500 flights and 560,000 seats. Movement will also be intense in Fortaleza, with 826 extra flights that will be added to the regular network of 1350 flights.

Structural problems demand solutions of several levels

The airports that integrate the national system are facing difficulties to attend with quality a growing number of passengers much before the decision of bringing the World Cup 2014 to Brazil. For the architect Ricardo Alberti, partner of the technical office Casacinco, in Curitiba (PR), this is a structural problem that demands interventions in three levels of architecture and urban planning. The first one is carried out in the airport buildings, which have to fit the needs of their users, making available more space for comfortable waiting services for different kinds of users, such as children, aged people and handicapped. "Many terminals have undersized boarding rooms that in peak hours become a nightmare for their users, since many times they do not have even an appropriate space to buy a newspaper or have a coffee ", emphasizes him.

Computing is already an unquestionable resource. According to Alberti, the self-attendance for ticket sale or check-in has to be encouraged by the operators and the architectural planning has to maximize spaces for these activities instead of spaces for rows near the counters. Everything has to be organized in a system that gives priority to users’ orientation and accessibility. "A public building has to be easy to travel and the spaces related to user’s activities have to be found easily ", explains the architect.

The second level of intervention is related to the calculation of aircraft yards and runways. A higher number of flights demands expansion of yards and sometimes the construction of new runways. The entrance and exit of passengers in the aircrafts has to be improved, reducing the time of take-off and landing in a way to ensure a quick liberation of the yard for other aircrafts.

However, a terminal with excellent internal calculation, with good access and well-oriented is not effective if problems in the urban structure do not allow the passenger to arrive in time for the flight.

Therefore, the third level of intervention involves the city. "It is important to point out the need to improve the urban road infrastructure in a way to receive the new flows that will get and leave the airport terminal ", says Alberti.

Results

What may be expected by the users at the end of all refurbishments and expansions that are being carried out? "Public Money is at stake, although privatization is being more and more present. Taxpayers have to demand quality standards in public works, but the edicts of public projects are not always based on that requirement", says the architect. According to Alberti, the user has to be aware that architecture has to contribute to ensure the best space to develop air transport services.

To design, refurbish and expand an airport demands the attendance of many requirements due to safety standards and to the need of attendance of a large quantity of persons. But always is possible to insert concepts of sustainability in the design, as Alberti explains.

Casacinco Office was responsible by the design of the Cruzeiro do Sul International Airport, in the state of Acre. "We looked for a shape that sends to a jungle architecture. The shape of Indian dwelling is very interesting and is not casual. It allows a quicker water flow, minimizes the use of large glass panels and has the benefit of a zenithal natural lighting with indirect light for the internal spaces ".