Brazilian carriers LATAM, GOL and Azul cancelled six high-profile flights on 6 January, disrupting both the Rio–São Paulo executive shuttle and key long-haul links to Miami and Amsterdam. Airport-data trackers first flagged the pull-outs, and the airlines confirmed that a mix of crew-rostering issues and residual thunderstorms around Guarulhos had forced schedule reshuffles.
At Santos Dumont, two early-morning rotations to Congonhas were scrubbed, leaving business travellers scrambling for seats via Galeão or Guarulhos. Guarulhos itself lost a LATAM Miami service and KLM’s KL 792 to Amsterdam, shrinking premium-cabin capacity at the very start of Brazil’s corporate-travel season, when expatriates and trade-fair delegations head back to base.
![Storms and Crew Shortages Force Flight Cancellations at Rio and São Paulo Hubs]()
Under Brazil’s consumer-protection Resolution 400/2016, airlines must rebook or refund passengers and provide meals or accommodation during delays over four hours. Travel managers should expect knock-on effects for the next 48–72 hours as crews and aircraft reposition. Companies routing assignees through Rio or São Paulo this week should build extra connection buffers and ensure that e-visas or passport validity will still cover any forced rerouting.
VisaHQ’s corporate portal can streamline exactly these last-minute documentation challenges. Through its Brazil-specific page (https://www.visahq.com/brazil/) the platform lets coordinators check entry rules in real time, place rush e-visa orders, and track status updates for entire traveller pools—often within the same window that airline rebooking is happening.
Mobility teams can mitigate future shocks by enrolling travellers in real-time disruption alerts and maintaining a quick-apply visa service for nationalities that need Brazilian documents on short notice. For non-exempt travellers diverted to Brazil unexpectedly, the e-visa portal usually turns around approvals in under 48 hours provided scans are clear and fees are paid online.
At Santos Dumont, two early-morning rotations to Congonhas were scrubbed, leaving business travellers scrambling for seats via Galeão or Guarulhos. Guarulhos itself lost a LATAM Miami service and KLM’s KL 792 to Amsterdam, shrinking premium-cabin capacity at the very start of Brazil’s corporate-travel season, when expatriates and trade-fair delegations head back to base.
Under Brazil’s consumer-protection Resolution 400/2016, airlines must rebook or refund passengers and provide meals or accommodation during delays over four hours. Travel managers should expect knock-on effects for the next 48–72 hours as crews and aircraft reposition. Companies routing assignees through Rio or São Paulo this week should build extra connection buffers and ensure that e-visas or passport validity will still cover any forced rerouting.
VisaHQ’s corporate portal can streamline exactly these last-minute documentation challenges. Through its Brazil-specific page (https://www.visahq.com/brazil/) the platform lets coordinators check entry rules in real time, place rush e-visa orders, and track status updates for entire traveller pools—often within the same window that airline rebooking is happening.
Mobility teams can mitigate future shocks by enrolling travellers in real-time disruption alerts and maintaining a quick-apply visa service for nationalities that need Brazilian documents on short notice. For non-exempt travellers diverted to Brazil unexpectedly, the e-visa portal usually turns around approvals in under 48 hours provided scans are clear and fees are paid online.
