Just as airlines were hoping to stabilise operations in the run-up to the Christmas rush, a fresh round of cancellations hit Brazilian airports on 18 December. Industry tracker FlightStats recorded 54 scrapped departures across Viracopos (Campinas), Guarulhos (São Paulo) and Afonso Pena (Curitiba) between 00:00 and 18:00 local time, affecting roughly 9,000 passengers. Routes to Rio de Janeiro, Porto Seguro, Florianópolis, Teresina, Santiago and New York were among those disrupted.
Azul accounted for the largest share of lost flights—largely because Viracopos is its main hub—but LATAM and American Airlines also pulled services as crew rotations unravelled after weather-related delays earlier in the week. The ripple effect is being felt beyond Brazil: trans-American connections through São Paulo are missing their narrow connection windows, forcing some long-haul travellers into overnight hotel stays.
Airlines blame a perfect storm of factors: residual power-supply constraints in São Paulo, crew duty-time limits reached after multiple re-routes, and a shortage of spare aircraft while heavy-maintenance lines are at capacity. Airport slot coordinators have authorised ad-hoc swaps to let carriers protect the most strategically important services, notably São Paulo–New York and Guarulhos–Santiago.
![Brazil Faces New Wave of Flight Disruptions as 54 Departures Scrapped Nationwide]()
Travel-risk consultants advise companies to diversify routings—flying via Brasília or Buenos Aires where feasible—and to use duty-of-care platforms capable of pushing real-time alerts to mobile devices. HR teams with holiday-makers and assignees transiting Brazil are also checking visa validity for unexpected overnight stays, especially for U.S., Canadian and Australian nationals who again require e-visas from April 2025.
If you do need a Brazilian visa at short notice because of an unplanned layover or rerouting, VisaHQ can cut through the red tape. Their online platform (https://www.visahq.com/brazil/) walks travellers through the e-visa process, checks documentation in real time and offers expedited processing options—handy when flight disruptions leave only a narrow window to secure entry clearance.
Regulators at ANAC (Brazil’s civil-aviation authority) have called an extraordinary meeting with airlines for 19 December to discuss contingency measures, including temporary relaxation of night-curfew restrictions at secondary airports to clear backlogs.
Azul accounted for the largest share of lost flights—largely because Viracopos is its main hub—but LATAM and American Airlines also pulled services as crew rotations unravelled after weather-related delays earlier in the week. The ripple effect is being felt beyond Brazil: trans-American connections through São Paulo are missing their narrow connection windows, forcing some long-haul travellers into overnight hotel stays.
Airlines blame a perfect storm of factors: residual power-supply constraints in São Paulo, crew duty-time limits reached after multiple re-routes, and a shortage of spare aircraft while heavy-maintenance lines are at capacity. Airport slot coordinators have authorised ad-hoc swaps to let carriers protect the most strategically important services, notably São Paulo–New York and Guarulhos–Santiago.
Travel-risk consultants advise companies to diversify routings—flying via Brasília or Buenos Aires where feasible—and to use duty-of-care platforms capable of pushing real-time alerts to mobile devices. HR teams with holiday-makers and assignees transiting Brazil are also checking visa validity for unexpected overnight stays, especially for U.S., Canadian and Australian nationals who again require e-visas from April 2025.
If you do need a Brazilian visa at short notice because of an unplanned layover or rerouting, VisaHQ can cut through the red tape. Their online platform (https://www.visahq.com/brazil/) walks travellers through the e-visa process, checks documentation in real time and offers expedited processing options—handy when flight disruptions leave only a narrow window to secure entry clearance.
Regulators at ANAC (Brazil’s civil-aviation authority) have called an extraordinary meeting with airlines for 19 December to discuss contingency measures, including temporary relaxation of night-curfew restrictions at secondary airports to clear backlogs.
