Airports in Brazil rather overcrowded?

Brazil’s airports serving World Cup 2014 venues are saturated and eight are ‘on the brink of operational collapse’, a government study revealed on Monday.

The report, by the Applied Economics Research Insititute, called for immediate investment to prevent logistic disaster.

‘Worrying situations are those in which use of the facilities surpass 80 per cent of capacity. In critical cases, it is when the level of use surpasses installed capacity and results in a deterioration in the level of service. In these cases… they are on the brink of operational collapse,’ it said.

The report singled out Manaus, the main city in the northern state of Amazonia, as being the worst, with 17 incoming and outgoing flights at peak-hour at an airport meant to handle just nine.

Sao Paulo’s two main airports, Guarulhos and Congonhas, were also operating more than 25 per cent above their maximum capacities. Sao Paulo is to host the semi-finals of the 2014 World Cup.

Brazil’s airport authority, Infraero, announced in October 2009 it would invest seven billion dollars to upgrade 16 airports with the aim of increasing capacity by 66 per cent before the football tournament.