Sao Paulo
While the number of international routes at most airports in centralsouth Brazil is reaching or even exceeding prepandemic levels, the main terminals in the northeast are still struggling to revive demand for routes outside the country.
This is what a survey conducted by Sheet Based on data from Anac (National Civil Aviation Agency) with information up to November 2023.
The most drastic case can be observed at Recife International Airport, which already offered 16 international routes in 2018. In subsequent years, the number began to fall and under the influence of pandemic restrictions, the level fell to just one route in 2021, connecting the capital Pernambuco with Lisbon.
As part of a slight recovery, the Pernambuco terminal added five international destinations in 2023, namely Lisbon, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Orlando and Fort Lauderdale in Florida (USA).
To avoid distortions, the survey only takes into account routes with more than 400 passengers per year. Travelers on flights landing in Brazil without immigration were not included.
In addition, the report only considered regular flights with paying passengers (those that generate revenue for airlines) that operated between January and November of each year.
Other airports that serve as gateways to the Northeast also saw declines. This is the case of the Fortaleza terminal, which reached its peak in destinations in 2018 with 12 international routes, but fell to two routes in 2021 and added four routes outside the country in 2023 Miami, Lisbon, Paris and Buenos Aires.
In Salvador, that number increased from nine international destinations in 2019 to four in 2023 Madrid, Lisbon, Buenos Aires and Montevideo.
In total, Brazil also lost routes from 2018, when it had 181 international goals, a record for this century. By 2020, the start of the pandemic, that number hovered at 165.
In 2021, when airports around the world were closed, there were 73 routes. The country began to recover the following year, finishing the first 11 months of 2023 with 142 trips, although still far from the record level set in 2018.
Abear (an industry association that brings together companies such as Gol, Latam and Voepass) indicates that the weakening of the northeastern terminals is an impact of the pandemic, which concentrated international traffic in Guarulhos.
According to the association, the domestic network was responsible for distributing passengers to other Brazilian destinations during this period.
“International routes departing from other airports are increasing again in line with demand at each location,” says Ruy Amparo, director of flight operations and security at Abear.
According to Anac, the number of passengers at Guarulhos Airport in Greater São Paulo has increased since the setback in 2020 due to social distancing.
Due to the limited availability of flights from the Northeast, 29yearold doctor Aurélio Leal Silva reserves a day for roundtrip travel from São Paulo on all the international trips he usually takes, departing from Teresina, where he lives.
“It's always a soap opera because in addition to the extra cost of the flight, which you spend on accommodation, roundtrip airport travel, you have to plan well so as not to miss the next leg,” he says.
And that even if the destination is Europe, such as Italy, where he is traveling in April, almost 2,000 kilometers closer to Teresina than to SP. He even looks for routes from airports like Recife or Fortaleza, “but it’s not worth it,” he says. “You can even save a few hours by leaving here, but flights are much more expensive,” he says.
In 2023, almost 12.2 million international travelers passed through the terminal from January to November almost as many as in 2019 (13.1 million).
The country's second largest terminal for international flights, Galeão north of Rio de Janeiro, registered just over 3 million international passengers from January to November 2023. Before the pandemic, in 2019, there were 3.9 million in the same period.
The Rio terminal has been emptied in recent years. The government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) launched a plan a few months ago to transfer passengers from Santos Dumont to Galeão and revitalize the international airport.
Although the number of international destinations remained low following the outbreak of the pandemic, major airports in the Northeast gradually recovered international passengers.
From January to November 2023, Recife registered nearly 271,000 international passengers, making the terminal in the capital Pernambuco the largest passenger terminal outside the country in the northeast.
The result represents a growth of over 80% compared to the number in the same period last year, but is still far from the levels observed before the pandemic (479.2 thousand international passengers in 2019).
Fortaleza Airport, which welcomed 498.7 thousand international travelers in the first 11 months of 2019, recorded a figure of 245.7 thousand in the same period of 2023. On the same comparative basis, Salvador recorded a decrease in the number of international passengers from 374.7 thousand before the pandemic to 249.5 thousand. Both terminals recovered compared to 2022.
Rafael Castro, professor at CefetRJ (Centro Federal de Educação Tecnológica Celso Suckow da Fonseca) and airport expert, says Brazil has a strong concentration of international flights in Guarulhos.
According to him, the situation is worsening with the weakening of passenger traffic in Galeão, in Rio de Janeiro, in recent years.
“We are talking about a country with continental dimensions. Forcing someone from Recife to come to São Paulo to take a flight out of the country is absurd. But airlines fly where there is demand,” says Castro.
Inter.B Consultoria economist Claudio Frischtak says the pandemic may have accelerated the rationalization of Brazil's airport system. According to him, airports in the Northeast may have lost endtoend flights that connect one destination to another without transfers and stopovers.
In this way, for example, airlines began to concentrate their flights in Guarulhos and then distribute passengers to the rest of the country.
“The North East did not lose its attractiveness, it continued to be a region that attracts domestic and international tourism. The pandemic has obviously affected them. Maybe there was an excess of routes. And this rationalization could have been accelerated by the pandemic,” explains Frischtak.
When contacted, Azul explained that “international market demand is closely related to exchange rate issues and fuel prices,” but that the company has expanded its international network.
The company says Recife is one of its main hubs, highlighting flights from the capital Pernambuco to Florida and Uruguay.
Gol emphasized that it “leads the international offer from the Northeast to Argentina, flying all year round between six capitals of this region and Buenos Aires” namely Salvador, Maceió, Recife, Fortaleza, Natal and João Pessoa.
“For the peak summer season, flight offerings grow by 138% and include up to 21 weekly flights between the northeast coast and Buenos Aires,” the company said.
“During the 2023/2024 peak summer season, there will be two weekly frequencies between the Argentine capital and Fortaleza, Recife, Natal and Maceió airports, while Salvador will gain three weekly frequencies.”
The company also emphasizes that it operates weekly between Fortaleza and Miami.
Latam forecast its international passenger count to grow by 54% in 2023, with 5.5 million travelers flying to or from Brazil more than the 3.5 million the company registered in 2022.
Portugal stands out among international travel destinations
Brazil is gradually recovering in passenger traffic to international destinations, but key routes, such as those connecting the country with the United States and Argentina, have not yet reached 2019 cumulative numbers.
On the contrary, Portugal stands out and has already exceeded prepandemic numbers.
According to Anac, in the first eleven months of 2023, more than 2.2 million passengers were registered on flights connecting Brazil with the Iberian country around 225.7 thousand passengers more than in 2019.
58yearold singer Aparecida Silvino usually takes a few weeks out of the year to go to Lisbon to visit her daughter. There he also traveled to other European countries. She is about to return to Portugal but complains about the ticket price.
She had originally paid R$5,000 for the round trip connecting Fortaleza to Lisbon. After a postponement, he paid out another R$1,200. He says it was the most expensive ticket he had ever bought for this section. Silvino states that he could have saved more than R$1,000 if he had made a stopover in São Paulo, where the flight offering is greater, but he says it wasn't worth it.
“For example, on the way back I would have to go to São Paulo, collect my luggage and walk all the way through the airport to catch the domestic flight. This is very unpleasant and tiring. I think it's suffering, that's what we pay for.” suffering,” says the singer.
The Portuguese airline TAP recently announced an expansion of its offering in Brazil in 2024.
This year there will be 91 weekly flights (currently 80 per week) connecting eleven points in Brazil with Europe a record for the company. All flights stop in Lisbon, even if they fly to other destinations.
According to Carlos Antunes, TAP director for the Americas, Brazil is a strategic market and one of the most important for the company. He says presence in cities in the Northeast is a feature of the company.
“We have daily flights in Fortaleza, Natal, Salvador, etc. We are part of the tourism ecosystem and invest locally. It makes perfect sense for us to continue there. Portugal is a very practical destination, with costbenefit ratio, language opportunities and receptiveness to Brazilian tourists,” he explains.