Summary
- Significant changes at Rio’s airports: Restrictions at Santos Dumont prompt LATAM and Azul to change schedules, with LATAM tripling domestic seat offerings at Galeão.
- LATAM’s latest routes and changes: LATAM will inaugurate three latest routes from Galeão in 2024 and move ten domestic routes out of Santos Dumont.
- Santos Dumont restrictions: Brazilian government limits flights to 400km from Santos Dumont, sparking industry opposition. Only certain cities can be connected, while crucial destinations are outside the brand new radius.
Significant changes are going down at Rio de Janeiro’s two airports, Santos Dumont (SDU) and Galeão International (GIG). Santos Dumont is seeing a route restriction, leading the Brazilian carriers to change their scheduling from this iconic airport.
LATAM Brasil has announced it’s going to triple its domestic seat offering at Galeão and that it has accomplished the flight rescheduling in Rio de Janeiro to fulfill the brand new operational restrictions at Santos Dumont. Azul Linhas Aéreas announced last week the changes it’s going to make in Rio de Janeiro.
Recent changes
Following the scheduling adjustments, LATAM Brasil will offer thrice more domestic seats departing from Galeão Airport in the primary quarter of 2024 in comparison with the identical period in 2023. LATAM’s final balance is a complete seat offering (domestic and international) 5% higher in Rio de Janeiro in comparison with the primary quarter of 2023.
Photo: Matheus Obst | Shutterstock.
In a press release, the corporate shared that LATAM will give you the chance to inaugurate three latest routes from Galeão in January 2024. The destinations can be Manaus (MAO), Recife (REC), and Natal (NAT).
LATAM will move ten domestic routes out of Santos Dumont airport. This implies the lack of 179 weekly flights that can be lost from this airport. The destinations that can now not be served from Santos Dumont starting in 2024’s first quarter are Porto Seguro, Curitiba, Florianópolis, Porto Alegre, Goiania, Salvador, Confins, Vitória, Sao Paulo Guarulhos, and Brasilia. It is a table of all of the changes that can happen in Rio de Janeiro in the subsequent few months:
Route Santos Dumont | 2023’s fourth quarter | Route Galeao | 2024’s fourth quarter |
Santos Dumont-Porto Seguro | 2 | Galeao-Porto Seguro | 7 |
Santos Dumont-Curitiba | 13 | Via Congonhas | – |
Santos Dumont-Florianópolis | 12 | Via Congonhas | – |
Santos Dumont-Porto Alegre | 12 | Galeao-Porto Alegre | 14 |
Santos Dumont-Goiania | 7 (third quarter, 2023) | Via Congonhas | – |
Santos Dumont-Salvador | 14 | Galeao-Salvador | 14 |
Santos Dumont-Confins | 22 | Galeao-Confins | 14 |
Santos Dumont-Vitória | 25 | Galeao-Vitória | 14 |
Santos Dumont-Guarulhos | 31 | Galeao-Guarulhos | 63 |
Santos Dumont-Brasília | 41 | Galeao-Brasília | 56 |
Santos Dumont-Congonhas | 134 | – | – |
Santos Dumont-Navegantes | 2 (third quarter) | Via Congonhas. | – |
– | – | Galeao-Manaus | 2 |
– | – | Galeao-Natal | 3 |
– | – | Galeao-Recife | 7 |
– | Galeao-Foz do Iguazu | 7 | |
– | – | Galeao-Fortaleza | 14 |
– | – | Galeao-Buenos Aires | 5 |
– | – | Galeao-Lima | 7 |
– | – | Galeao-Santiago | 19 |
About this table, the LATAM flights to Navegantes, Goiania, Florianópolis, and Curitiba that when took place directly from Santos Dumont can be canceled. The one possible route to those destinations can be via Sao Paulo Congonhas. Starting in January 2024, LATAM will operate just one flight from Santos Dumont, the direct flight to Congonhas.
What are the changes going down at Santos Dumont?
Rio de Janeiro’s airport landscape is undertaking several significant changes in these months. On the one hand, the administrator of the hub, Changi Airports International (CAI), recently returned Galeão Airport to the Brazilian authorities after recording a heavy traffic reduction through the pandemic. This may lead Galeão and Santos Dumont to be auctioned at a future date to seek out a brand new airport administrator.
Photo: Bradley Caslin | Shutterstock.
Alternatively, the Brazilian government restricted Santos Dumont, limiting all flights to distances of as much as 400 kilometers (248.5 miles). These restrictions will happen starting in 2024, and the industry has announced its opposition against the measure, to no avail.
The 400-kilometer radius will heavily restrict the operations available at Santos Dumont. Among the many Brazilian cities that might still be connected to this iconic airport are Sao Paulo, Campinas, Juiz de Fora, and Belo Horizonte. Nonetheless, the remaining of Brazil, including crucial destinations equivalent to Manaus, Natal, Recife, and Brasilia, are outside of the brand new radius.
What do you concentrate on LATAM Brasil’s latest scheduling at Rio de Janeiro Galeão International? Tell us within the comments below.