Gilberto Freyre Recife - Guararapes International Airport
Gilberto Freyre Recife - Guararapes International Airport
Recife Guararapes - Gilberto Freyre International Airport welcomes more than nine million passengers per year, being the busiest in the North-Northeast of Brazil. Administered by Aena Brasil since March 2020, after the company won the concession auction of the National Civil Aviation Agency (Anac) held in 2019, the air transport equipment receives domestic and international flights 24 hours a day, meeting the demand of one of the most coveted destinations in Brazil.
Known for its cultural and historical wealth, for its carnival, its parties and paradisiacal beaches, the capital of the State of Pernambuco attracts visitors from all over the world. In 2021, the World Airport Awards elected the terminal as the best regional airport in Brazil. In the same year, a survey by The OnTime Performance Report — based on a survey carried out by Cirium consultancy, one of the most important for the airline industry — highlighted Recife Guararapes - Gilberto Freyre as the most punctual in the Northeast and fourth in the world, in the category Medium Airports.
Upon stepping onto Pernambuco lands, visitors soon have their first encounter with local art. Recife International Airport is proud to have works by recognized artists. Francisco Brennand, José Cláudio and Gil Vicente, Ana Guerra, Pedro Frederico, Abelardo da Hora, João Câmara, Romero Britto and Montez Magno make up the terminal's collection, whose architecture and history deserve to be highlighted.
Inaugurated in 1958, by President Juscelino Kubitschek, the passenger terminal was inspired by Linate Airport, in Milan - Italy, and still retains traces of modernist architecture.
The building has a clear span without any support pillars or obstacles, which facilitates the flow of passengers and luggage. The project also has more than 23,000 square meters of special glass – the equivalent of covering four football stadiums – which, while providing comfort to the environment, provide natural lighting for an extended period.
The closest Brazilian international airport terminal to Europe and Africa, the history of Recife Guararapes Airport - Gilberto Freyre blends with that of the capital of Pernambuco, whose privileged geographical location was already considered an ideal setting for the installation of airport equipment long before the years of 1950.
It is no coincidence that the name of the terminal bears an important episode in the history of Brazil, alluding to the battles won by Pernambuco against the Dutch, on Monte dos Guararapes, located close to the airport. It also pays homage to Gilberto Freyre, from Recife, one of the most important sociologists of the 20th century, author of the famous work Casa Grande & Senzala.
Currently, Aena Brasil is carrying out works to modernize the airport unit's infrastructure towards a promising future. The renovation, which started in March 2022, will allow for the expansion of passenger capacity and will include Recife International Airport among the most modern in Brazil.
Concessionaire of 17 airports in the country, Aena Brasil is part of the Spanish company Aena, considered the largest airport operator in the world in number of passengers. Until the end of the contract, the company will invest R$840 million in Recife Guararapes - Gilberto Freyre International Airport, equivalent to 60% of the R$1.4 billion planned for the six units in the Northeast managed by Aena Brasil — Recife, Maceió, João Pessoa, Aracaju, Juazeiro do Norte and Campina Grande.