São Paulo/Guarulhos International Airport (GRU)—Brazil’s primary long-haul hub—expects to handle more than 1.1 million passengers between 13 and 20 February, airport operator GRU Airport said on 13 February. That figure is 16.8 % higher than the 2025 Carnaval period and will be supported by 5 800 scheduled flights, up 8.6 % year on year.
Domestic capacity is being boosted on leisure routes to Recife, Salvador, Rio de Janeiro and Porto Alegre, while international banks concentrate on South American business/leisure corridors such as Santiago, Buenos Aires, Bogotá, Lima and Asunción. The airport has reopened two remote stands and added 150 temporary staff in security screening and queue management to preserve 30-minute average connection times—a key metric for airlines in the on-time-performance rankings.
The growth partly reflects GRU’s successful push in 2025 to attract carriers from secondary Brazilian cities, including new services from Boa Vista, Bonito and Fernando de Noronha. Those routes now feed into the holiday peak, giving expatriates and corporate travellers in Brazil’s interior more one-stop options to global destinations.
![GRU Airport prepares to process 1 million passengers over Carnaval week]()
Travel planners looking to keep trips smooth should also confirm that all visa and entry formalities are in place well before departure. VisaHQ’s online platform (https://www.visahq.com/brazil/) guides travelers through Brazil’s evolving e-visa and documentation requirements, provides real-time status updates, and can arrange courier pickup for passport processing—saving valuable time during the busy Carnaval rush.
For employers, the takeaway is to anticipate congestion at immigration and ground-transport ranks. GRU Airport advises international passengers to use the recently-expanded e-Gate system, but experience shows that foreign nationals unfamiliar with the biometric kiosks can still face bottlenecks. Mobility managers should brief travellers on the process and consider arranging pre-booked car services rather than relying on on-demand apps, which surge-price heavily during Carnaval nights.
The performance of GRU during this peak will inform discussions with the Civil Aviation Secretariat about a proposed third runway—an infrastructure project of direct interest to freight forwarders and global manufacturers that rely on Brazil’s largest cargo gateway.
Domestic capacity is being boosted on leisure routes to Recife, Salvador, Rio de Janeiro and Porto Alegre, while international banks concentrate on South American business/leisure corridors such as Santiago, Buenos Aires, Bogotá, Lima and Asunción. The airport has reopened two remote stands and added 150 temporary staff in security screening and queue management to preserve 30-minute average connection times—a key metric for airlines in the on-time-performance rankings.
The growth partly reflects GRU’s successful push in 2025 to attract carriers from secondary Brazilian cities, including new services from Boa Vista, Bonito and Fernando de Noronha. Those routes now feed into the holiday peak, giving expatriates and corporate travellers in Brazil’s interior more one-stop options to global destinations.
Travel planners looking to keep trips smooth should also confirm that all visa and entry formalities are in place well before departure. VisaHQ’s online platform (https://www.visahq.com/brazil/) guides travelers through Brazil’s evolving e-visa and documentation requirements, provides real-time status updates, and can arrange courier pickup for passport processing—saving valuable time during the busy Carnaval rush.
For employers, the takeaway is to anticipate congestion at immigration and ground-transport ranks. GRU Airport advises international passengers to use the recently-expanded e-Gate system, but experience shows that foreign nationals unfamiliar with the biometric kiosks can still face bottlenecks. Mobility managers should brief travellers on the process and consider arranging pre-booked car services rather than relying on on-demand apps, which surge-price heavily during Carnaval nights.
The performance of GRU during this peak will inform discussions with the Civil Aviation Secretariat about a proposed third runway—an infrastructure project of direct interest to freight forwarders and global manufacturers that rely on Brazil’s largest cargo gateway.
