Salgado Filho Airport should only resume operations at Christmas

The Federal Government announced the reopening of Salgado Filho International Airport, in Porto Alegre, only for Christmas. The government met with representatives from the National Civil Aviation Agency (Anac) and Fraport this Monday (3) carrying out an inspection at the site and some repairs were found before it began operating.

According to G1, the airport had problems with the entire electrical network and flight runways. According to the Minister of Ports and Airports, Silvio Costa Filho, the asphalt on the runway is in a critical condition.

^{Plane stopped at airport due to flooding in Porto Alegre (Photo: reproduction/Diego Vara/Reuters)}

The airport still has several flooding points that need to be drained. Local rice farmers are helping to drain this stagnant water through irrigation pumps that should help remove the accumulated water.

The Minister of Support for Reconstruction of RS, Paulo Pimenta, also stated that the site will receive investment, which was not in the concession contract, from Fraport, the concessionaire responsible for Porto Alegre airport, to handle the repairs.

Airport temporarily inactive

This Monday, Salgado Filho International Airport has not received flights or people for three months. Due to the heavy rains and floods that devastated the state of Rio Grande do Sul last month, several places were completely isolated, the airport was one of them.

An article that aired on Fantástico showed the situation of the place after the floods. With several areas flooded, water flooded the entire runway, as well as the entire lobby.

^{Points inside the airport covered by flood water (Photo: reproduction/TV Globo)}

The airport was responsible for carrying out more than 142 daily trips, both national and international. With the closure, more than 4,000 flights have been canceled since then.

International flights were all cancelled, as it was the only airport authorized to receive these operations.

Canoas Air Base

As a way to temporarily circumvent the situation, the Canoas Air Base began to receive these flights on an emergency basis.

Now, the Ministry of Ports and Airports announced last Wednesday (29) that the number of commercial flights will increase from June 10th. According to information from G1, this increase amounts from 35 to 70 per week, serving an average of approximately 10 national flights per day.

Featured photo: Salgado Filho International Airport (Reproduction/Anselo Cunha/AFP)