RIOgaleão Airport Revs Up for the Olympic Games
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APEX Insight: With a mobile app due for release this coming Monday and a newly minted South Pier, RIOgaleão Airport is primed for August’s Olympic takeover. Demand spurred by the games aside, the airport and city are experiencing a renaissance reminiscent of their heyday in decades past, says Marcelo Varella, director of Strategic Development for the airport.
Less than three months ahead of the Olympic games, Rio de Janeiro’s RIOgaleão – Tom Jobim International Airport (GIG) is nearing the completion of its mass overhaul, which includes the construction of a South Pier that will increase total airport capacity from 17 to 30 million passengers and an array of technological improvements. The Rio Galeão consortium, which also operates Singapore Changi Airport, has already invested 2 billion reais ($558 million) in developments and expects to invest an additional 3.2 billion reais by the end of its contract in 2039.
Earlier this week, the airport unveiled the “South Pier,” a one-kilometer and 100,000-square-meter stretch in Terminal 2. The $560 million extension has 26 boarding bridges – more than any other Latin American airport – three of which are large enough to accommodate Airbus A380s. By August, 100 new stores and restaurants will have been added to the airport, many of which proudly promote Brazilian culture – with local brands and Carioca cuisine – as well as internationally renowned culinary and sartorial flavors. “You’ll see a completely new experience if you stop in the South Pier: new retail, new restaurants and a new mix of VIP lounges,” said Marcelo Varella, director of Strategic Development for RIOGaleão Airport, in an interview with APEX Media.
“You’ll see a completely new experience if you stop in the South Pier: new retail, new restaurants and a new mix of VIP lounges.” – Marcelo Varella, RIOgaleão Airport
Renovations began in August 2014, following the FIFA World Cup Brazil. While the soccer competition drew in a major influx of visitors, it was nowhere close to the 2.5 million the Brazilian government expects to receive during the period of the Olympic and Paralympic games, from August 5 to 21 and September 7 to 18, respectively. “We’ve been working for months with Rio de Janeiro 2016 committees, doing simulations, ensuring that people from the committee will be located here and using the airport as a central hub for the Olympic games,” said Varella.
In preparation for the Olympics, the airport has developed its first mobile app set to be deployed this coming Monday. The app features tools for flight consultation, geolocation, parking payments and check-in assistance that will help passengers as they navigate the recently renovated airport. Other technological improvements include bar-coded boarding passes that can be accessed via mobile device and eGates for customs and border control to accelerate processing times during high-volume traffic periods; both are slated for August. Although prompted by the Olympics, these additions will benefit the airport long past the duration of the games.
“It is very important to help Rio again become the main entrance of Brazil.” – Marcelo Varella, RIOgaleão Airport
Varella is confident that the airport’s position as Olympic hub is just the beginning of more upward mobility: “Rio used to be the main hub in the 70s, 80s and 90s, but gradually São Paolo took over this position. Now with the new airport, the increase of connecting and destination traffic and everything we are doing, we see GIG again being the answer. It is very important to help Rio again become the main entrance of Brazil.”