The mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Eduardo Paes, sees the National Civil Aviation Agency (Anac) moving to begin reducing the passenger limit at Santos Dumont Airport — currently set at 6.5 million — a decision that goes against the federal government’s efforts to boost the growth of Galeão, Rio’s international airport.
“Hidden forces are moving within ANAC to change @govbr’s successful policy of restricting flights at Santos Dumont Airport to coordinate Rio de Janeiro’s airport system and strengthen Galeão International Airport – which is fundamental for the development of Rio and Brazil,” stated Paes in a post on his profile on X.
“See the ANAC order on December 17th calling the airlines to a last-minute meeting in which they communicated the change! Unbelievable! And the most serious thing: based on parameters of the agreement made at the TCU – whose decision was precisely to create mechanisms to preserve the public policy that saved and strengthened Galeão!”, continues Paes in his post.
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Since the beginning of 2024, the two Rio airports have been operated in a coordinated manner, which, according to Rio de Janeiro authorities and experts, was essential to allow the resumption of Galeão. At Santos Dumont, passenger volume was limited to 6.5 million per year.
As a result, compared to 2023, before this measure came into force, the flow of travelers at the international airport increased. From January to October this year, Galeão registered 14.6 million passengers, more than doubling the 6 million from the same period two years ago, according to data from the concessionaire RIOgaleão.
“The numbers from the last 2 years show this with record numbers of passengers (17 million in 2025 x 8 million in 2023), international tourists (+2 million in 2025) and broad recognition of the measure that benefited Rio and Brazil”, continues Paes, citing consolidated data on movement at the two airports coordinated until September.
He also adds that Latam would also be operating against the interests of Rio de Janeiro, without further details about the airline’s positioning. When contacted, the company did not comment.
Paes attached to his post a dispatch from Anac from last Thursday on the implementation of the transition regime for operational restrictions at Santos Dumont Airport, which would have been used to call on airlines to be notified of the changes in the final stretch of 2025.
The coordinated operation of the airports came in the wake of long negotiations between the Rio de Janeiro authorities, Anac itself and the federal government to seek a solution for Rio de Janeiro’s international airport. Estimates of expansion and economic results that appeared in the Galeão concession notice — won at auction in 2013 — ended up not being confirmed, having been worsened during the pandemic period, when Galeão registered a decline in movement.
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In June this year, the Federal Audit Court (TCU) approved an agreement to reformulate the contract with RIOgaleão, allowing it to continue managing the international airport. The 25-year contract runs until 2039.
It was decided that Infraero will leave the concession; the annual grant with a fixed value will be replaced by the payment of 20% of the concession revenues, while the obligation to build a third runway has been cancelled. The airport will be re-bid in 2026, in an auction scheduled for March 30th on the São Paulo Stock Exchange, B3, with a minimum bid of R$932 million.
In this new concession process, the TCU agreement decided that a schedule with estimates of annual passenger volume on Santos Dumont will be used as a reference for the review of the Galeão contract. The forecasts, made by the Ministry of Ports and Airports, will act as guidelines for compensation that would have to be paid by the new Galeão concessionaire as a form of compensation to the Union.
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Minister Augusto Nardes, rapporteur of the process at the TCU, stated in his decision that the Public Power is not bound by the limits mentioned in the agreement. In other words, the government has no obligation to change the volume of passengers allowed to Santos Dumont.
“The MPTCU suggested that the issue of restrictions at SDU (Santos Dumont) be dealt with outside the consensual agreement, through a decision-making act by the Ministry of Ports and Airports”, says Nardes’ text.
Further on, the rapporteur’s text clarifies that “includes in the economic and financial modeling a mere forecast for the end of the SDU limitation with transition for three years”. And that this option does not bind the public authorities to this deadline, “only serving to signal to the market and society that there is a desire to end the restriction at Santos Dumont airport”.
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This estimate schedule speaks of 8 million passengers in 2025, rising to 9 million in 2026, then to 10 million in 2027, with the end of this limitation from 2028.
