BRAZIL. Open, on time and within budget: GRU Airport has delivered on its promise for a new era at São Paulo Guarulhos International Airport with the opening of Terminal 3.
First photos of the 192,000sq m terminal reveal a step change from the dowdy terminals 1 and 2 that GRU Airport inherited at Latin America’s busiest international airport.
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Guarulhos Terminal 3 takes the Brazilian airport experience to a new level |
GRU Airport managed a soft opening of T3 on 11 May, capping a 19-month construction process.
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and São Paulo State Governor Geraldo Alckmin officially inaugurated the terminal on 20 May.
“This structure has met the required level, and it’s very important that it’s in the biggest airport in the country,” Rousseff said. “This gives us a guarantee that it will be used in the World Cup and for Brazil in the coming years, with comfort, efficiency and security.”
In its first phase, T3 can process 12 million passengers a year, and will be exclusively for international flights. Guarulhos handled 36 million passengers in 2013.
“Terminal 3 represents a paradigm shift from an airport infrastructure perspective. From now on, there will be a new passenger experience, especially concerning operating efficiency, service quality, comfort and safety”, said Antonio Miguel Marques, CEO of GRU Airport.
“Since we assumed the management in February 2013, we have doubled the capacity of areas that were critical,” he explained. Opening T3 and expanding T2 have increased terminal space from 191,000sq m to 387,000sq m, with car parking bays up from 3,900 before GRU Airport’s concession to 8,000 now.
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Dufry is managing approximately 4,440sq m of duty free space in the all-important Arrivals zone and 1,000sq m in Departures |
T3 reverses the traditional Brazilian terminal model, seen in T1 and T2, by having more space airside than landside. “The idea is that passengers will carry out all check-in procedures on their own and then wait for their flights at ease,” Miguel said.
Issue 114 of The Moodie Report e-Zine profiled the T3 development.
It features approximately 100 commercial outlets, including shops, bars, restaurants, and general services. Dufry hold the concession to manage duty free stores as well as 15 brand boutiques in the GRU Avenue precinct.
Airlines are transferring international services to T3 in stages, with Lufthansa, Swiss Airlines and TAP already in place. Eight will have transferred by the World Cup in mid-June, and by September there will 25 airlines operating from T3 (including the five airlines of the LATAM Group).
In October 2014, GRU Airport will start retrofitting Terminals 1 and 2, in an 18-month project.
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T3 brings a mix of local and international brands in some 100 commercial outlets |
About GRU Airport
On 6 February 2012 the consortium of Invepar (Investimentos e Participações em Infraestrutura S.A) and ACSA (Airports Company South Africa) won the bid for the concession of Guarulhos International Airport, Brazil’s largest airport. When the contract was signed, Concessionária do Aeroporto Internacional de Guarulhos S.A. was established, with 51% of the shares held by Grupar (Grupo Invepar and ACSA) and 49% by state airport authority Infraero. Of the Grupar shares, Invepar owns 90% and ACSA 10%.
