Olympic Games Set Record in Passenger Traffic to Rio de Janeiro Airport

With the end of the Olympic Games, the Rio de Janeiro–Galeão International Airport hit a passenger traffic record, while simultaneously receiving giants like Air France’s Airbus A380, and Lufthansa, British Airways, Qantas and United Airlines Boeing 747s.

Last August 22, the day after the closure of the Rio 2016 Summer Olympic Games, the airport experienced a surge in passenger traffic, with 85,000 people, exceeding in more than two times the peak during normal days. Also, the airport registered about 430 takeoffs and landings.

Among the passengers, 7,500 were part of the Olympic teams (athletes and accredited staff), representing approximately 28,000 pieces of baggage. To avoid an overload at the check-in counters, the airport administration advised passengers with international flights to arrive to check in six hours earlier, and in the case of domestic flights, two hours before the departure time.

The airport also reinforced its staff with 135 extra employees, together with the support of the volunteers who worked at the airport.

To optimize the flow of passengers, the 174 check-in counters of the the airport had the support of a satellite check-in counter located in the Olympic village. There, the delegations were able to check-in. The baggage was transported to the airport, using trucks under the responsibility of the Rio 2016 Committee. This enabled the Olympic delegations to arrive to the airport straight to security screening.

The end of the Olympic Games was the first major test for the newly opened Pier South at Galeão (a  100,000 sqm expansion of Terminal 2, which added 26 new boarding gates). On August 22, the airport received a myriad of aircraft, from operators all over the world, and which, definitively are a treat for avgeeks!