Rio de Janeiro Santos Dumont

  Early 1930's to present

  Brazil

CITY: Rio de Janeiro

IATA/ICAO CODES: SDU / SBRJ

OTHER NAMES: Calabouco (1930's-1936), Rio de Janeiro Santos Dumont (1936-present)

Santos Dumont airport opened in the early 1930's as Calabouco airport. Calabouco point was originally a seaplane base on Guanabara Bay that handled most of Rio's domestic and international flights. In 1934, in order to handle a growing amount of landplane operations, land was reclaimed from the bay to create the airport's first runway, with a length of 400 meters. It was extended to 700 meters in 1936, and on 30 November it received its first commercial flight, a VASP Junkers Ju 52 aircraft flying from Sao Paulo Congonhas. The airport complex was inaugurated on 16 October 1936 and was renamed Santos Dumont Airport.

It was also in 1936 that the construction of a new passenger terminal began, inspired by the one in Paris Le Bourget. Its pioneering, modernist, architectural features created a Brazilian national landmark. Its construction was only completed in 1947, and it is used to the present day.

On 21 May 1959, a formal agreement between VARIG, Cruzeiro do Sul, and VASP created an air shuttle service ("Ponte Aerea"), the first of its kind in the world. This service operated between Rio de Janeiro Santos Dumont and Sao Paulo Congonhas and featured scheduled hourly departures, common check-in counters, and simplified tickets and formalities. The service was an instant success. Transbrasil joined the partnership in 1968. Starting in 1975 the service was operated exclusively by VARIG's Lockheed L-188 Electras. In 1999, the air bridge came to an end as airlines decided to operate their own independent services again.

Over the years, the airport's main runway was extended several times, to 910 meter and finally to 1,320 meters. With the gradual shift of international operations to Galeao Airport, opened in 1952, Rio de Janeiro Santos Dumont lost its place as an international hub, but for many years it retained its position as the major hub for domestic traffic, especially until 1960, when the capital of Brazil was moved to Brasília.