São Paulo/Guarulhos–Governor André Franco Montoro International Airport , commonly known as São Paulo/Guarulhos International Airport, is the primary international airport serving São Paulo, located in the municipality of Guarulhos, in the state of São Paulo. It is the largest airport in Brazil and Latin America, and one of the 50 busiest in the world by passenger traffic. It is popularly known locally as either Cumbica Airport, after the district where it is located and the Brazilian Air Force base that exists at the Guarulhos Airport, after the municipality where it is located. Since 28 November 2001, the airport has been named after André Franco Montoro (1916–1999), former Governor of São Paulo state. The airport was rebranded as GRU Airport in 2012.
The airport is the busiest in Brazil in terms of transported passengers, aircraft operations, and cargo handled. Guarulhos has slot restrictions, operating with a maximum of 45 operations/hour and being one of the five airports with such restrictions in Brazil (the others are São Paulo-Congonhas, Brasília, Belo Horizonte-Pampulha and Rio de Janeiro-Santos Dumont).
Since 2012, the airport has been operated by a consortium composed of Invepar S/A, Airports Company South Africa, and Infraero. Some of its facilities are shared with the São Paulo Air Force Base of the Brazilian Air Force.
In 2017, it was considered by the company OAG the second best in punctuality in the world and first in Latin America, a position above that achieved in the previous year. In 2019 the airport achieved the same position in a survey carried out by FlightStats. In 2021, it was chosen by the Club Med study as one of the 35 best in the world for long layovers. In a survey carried out by Cirium Aviation, it reached first position among the most punctual large airports in the world and second place in the "Global" category in 2024; that same year, São Paulo/Guarulhos International Airport was named one of the best airports in the world by AirHelp.
History
In 2010, the airport served more than 26.8 million passengers, an increase of 24% over 2009 and passenger volumes were 31% in excess of its capacity rated at 20.5 million per year at its present configuration.
In order to relieve the acute overcrowding at the Terminals 1 and 2, Infraero announced on 17 May 2011 that the former cargo terminals of the defunct airlines VASP and Transbrasil, later used by Federal Agencies, would undergo renovations and adaptations for use as domestic passenger terminals with remote boarding. This new terminal was initially called Terminal 4 (T4). The first phase of the renovations, comprising the former VASP terminal, opened on 8 February 2012, and the second phase, comprising the former Transbrasil terminal, was opened in June 2013. Contrary to what had been announced before, the new terminal will be permanent. Webjet was the first airline to use the new facility. The new terminal, in its first phase, increased the capacity of the airport in 5.5 million passengers/year and, in the second phase to 8 million passengers/year. In total, Guarulhos would then be able to handle 28.5 million passengers/year.
Responding to critiques to the situation of its airports, on 18 May 2011, Infraero released a list evaluating some of its most important airports according to its saturation levels. According to the list, Guarulhos was considered to be critically saturated, operating above 85% of its capacity.
Following a decision made on 26 April 2011 by the Federal Government for private companies being granted concessions to explore some Infraero airports, on 6 February 2012, the administration of the airport was conceded, for 20 years, to the Consortium Invepar–ACSA, also known as GRU Airport, composed by the Brazilian Invepar, an Investments and Funds Society (90%) and the South African ACSA–Airports Company South Africa (10%). Infraero, the state-run organisation, remains with 49% of the shares of the company incorporated for the administration.
On 2 December 2015, the airport's terminals were renumbered. The former Terminal 4 was renumbered Terminal 1; the former terminals 1 and 2, which were wings of a single building, became the new Terminal 2. The Terminal 3 kept its numbering. The new numbering reflects the order by which terminals are reached when one arrives at the airport by the access road, and is expected to be less confusing in the long term. Check-in counters and gates were also renumbered, with the first digit being now the new terminal number.
On 28 October 2015, the National Civil Aviation Agency of Brazil (Anac) authorised Airbus A380 operations at Guarulhos Airport, effective four days later. The authorisation was granted after extensive works were conducted on the runways and taxiways (including widening runway 09L/27R to ) and special taxiing procedures were established. On 14 November 2015, Emirates operated a one-time special flight with the A380 on its Dubai-São Paulo route to commemorate its eight years of operations in Brazil. On 26 March 2017, Emirates started daily A380 service from Dubai to São Paulo, replacing the Boeing 777-300ER previously used on that route – coincidentally, on the same day that the other UAE airline, Etihad, ended its services to São Paulo.
Facilities Runways and taxiways GRU has two parallel runways. Runway 10R/28L is long and wide, while runway 10L/28R is long and wide, after being widened in 2015 to better receive the Airbus A380. The field elevation at the airport is above mean sea level. Runway 10R/28L is mostly used for landings and runway 10L/28R for takeoffs. There are high-speed exit taxiways on both runways that allow for traffic to depart the runway at higher speed to allow better efficiency for landing and takeoff traffic. As of 2014, there was an average of 650 takeoff and landing operations per day at the airport.
Terminals The airport has four passenger terminals, numbered 1, 2, and 3, according to their order along the airport access road when arriving from the city, plus a VIP terminal. Terminal 1 is the smallest and simplest. It handles only domestic flights and, as of January 2020, it is used only by Azul Brazilian Airlines. Terminal 1 has no jet bridges and no direct access to the other terminals, which can only be reached by a free shuttle bus. Terminal 2 is the oldest and largest, and for many years was the only airport terminal. It handles the majority of domestic flights and a few international flights. The terminal is undergoing a retrofit process in internal and external areas to modernize the facilities and to improve the user experience. This terminal is divided into two boarding piers: West Pier The West Pier has sixteen jet bridges and it is used only by domestic flights. East Pier The East Pier has thirteen jet bridges and it is used by domestic and international flights. Terminal 3 is the newest and most modern. It operates only international flights and concentrates most long-haul intercontinental traffic, in addition to LATAM Group's Latin American flights. It comprises a pier with twenty-two gates with jetways. Five of them can accommodate the Airbus A380. T3B Pier is a new pier being built to expand Terminal 3, with 14 jet bridges and three remote positions. Its completion is scheduled for the end of 2026.
According to information released by the authorities that manage the airport, after the inauguration of pier T3B, the east pier will be converted 100% for domestic flights, and a new domestic pier with ten boarding bridges, called T2L, will also be built after the west pier, with an expected opening in 2029.
Terminals 2 and 3 are directly linked by a walkway.
The airport also has a large air cargo terminal with a built area of and capable of handling any type of cargo, including refrigerated and hazardous shipments.
Navigational aids There are two navigational aids that GRU traffic uses. The Bonsucesso very high frequency omnidirectional range with distance measuring equipment (VOR-DME) is located to the east of GRU.
Developments In 2009 Infraero unveiled a R$ 1,489.5 million (US$784.7 USD million; €549.8 EUR million) investment plan to upgrade Guarulhos International Airport, focusing on preparations for the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the Summer Olympics in 2016. The investment was supposed to be used as follows: Construction of additional taxiways. Cost: R$ 19M. Completion: April 2016. Enlargement of apron and taxiways. Cost: R$370,5M. Completion: May 2016. Construction of passenger Terminal 3. Cost: R$1,100M. Completed: March 2014. Opened for Star Alliance airlines in May. Central to this investment plan was Terminal 3, which is projected to add 12 million passenger capacity to the 17 million of the existing two terminals. Plans for a third runway were decided to be "technically impracticable" and were cancelled in January 2008.
However, the former concessionary, Infraero, experienced many legal and bureaucratic difficulties, which prevented most (if any) of these improvements from being completed on schedule. As of April 2013, the new concessionary unveiled a new expansion project, which included the new Terminal 3 (with a different design than the one proposed by Infraero), the widening of the main runway in order to enable operations by the large Airbus A380 and Boeing 747-8, operated by Emirates and Lufthansa respectively, and several other improvements in the existing terminals and parking area.
The Terminal 3 is open and all Star Alliance airlines are in, as well as many other overseas carriers. International flights by LATAM also use the facility.
A train service development and construction has also been planned, however never concluded and cancelled. This included an Airport Express Line linking the airport to downtown São Paulo and a Rio–São Paulo high-speed rail connecting Guarulhos to Rio de Janeiro-Galeão and Campinas-Viracopos airports.
Since March 2017 American Airlines invested US$ 100 million on a maintenance hangar at Guarulhos Airport, building together with the LATAM Hangar of R$ 130 million. The American Airlines one is capable of performing line maintenance on two wide-body aircraft at the same time, of the types commonly used by the U.S. company on routes between São Paulo and the United States and the LATAM one is capable of performing line maintenance of one wide-body aircraft. It could also be used by other companies as storage for parts. The same conditions applies to the LATAM maintenance center.
Airlines and destinations Passenger
Cargo
Statistics
Following are the number of passenger, aircraft and cargo movements at the airport, according to Infraero (2007-2012) and GRU Airport (2013-2025) reports:
Year Passenger Aircraft Cargo (t) 2025 47,188,085 8% 305,188 6% 2024 43,580,962 6% 288,063 5% 2023 41,307,915 20% 274,917 13% 2022 34,480,706 43% 242,881 29% 2021 24,170,612 19% 188,573 21% 2020 20,322,520 53% 155,912 47% 2019 43,002,119 2% 291,987 2018 42,230,309 12% 293,084 10% 2017 37,765,898 3% 266,016 1% 2016 36,606,363 6% 268,139 43% 2015 38,983,779 1% 296,618 3% 2014 39,539,992 10% 306,050 8% 2013 35,962,128 10% 284,184 4% 2012 32,777,330 9% 273,884 1% 474,190 7% 2011 30,003,428 12% 270,600 8% 511,484 19% 2010 26,849,185 24% 250,493 19% 430,850 13% 2009 21,727,649 7% 209,636 8% 382,723 19% 2008 20,400,304 9% 194,184 3% 475,209 3% 2007 18,795,596 187,960 488,485