The domino effect caused by the cyclone that hit São Paulo last Wednesday (10) continues to generate massive disruptions at Congonhas Airport. Even with operational infrastructure restored, the reflection of winds, which exceeded 90 km/h, still disrupts the national air network. According to a report published by Aena, the concessionaire which manages the terminal, as of 6:30 p.m. this Thursday (11), 66 arrivals and 51 departures were canceled, totaling 117 flights affected just today. Read more: The devastating wind in SP was a combination of “land” cyclone and open sky. Crisis bill: Enel SP accumulates 404 million reais in fines from Aneel; 85% of the amount has been invested over the last three years. The collapse in the supply of seats for relocation has forced drastic emergency measures. According to O GLOBO, Gol has temporarily suspended the sale of new tickets for the entire weekend. Those looking for tickets with the company at the moment will only find availability to fly from Monday. The sales freeze aims to give priority to boarding passengers who are already stuck at airports and cannot find space on crowded flights. Dealer Aena also warned that the situation requires caution and advises passengers to check the status of their flights before heading to the airport. But in the lobbies, the reality is that of long queues and uncertainty, where the gradual adjustment of the air network clashes with the routine of thousands of Brazilians. Behind the scenes, sources in the air sector explain that the complete resumption of operations cannot be announced with precision and faces a complex logistical “domino effect”. While planes operate in a continuous rotation regime, a plane held up by the cyclone in Congonhas ends up causing a cascade of cancellations across the country, even in cities where the weather is stable. In practice, a passenger waiting for a flight from Galeão (RJ) to Manaus may have their trip canceled simply because the plane that would have completed this step was stuck in São Paulo and did not arrive in Rio de Janeiro. In addition to the repositioning of planes, the crisis is aggravated by strict rules regarding crew safety. Pilots and flight attendants operate under strict work schedule limits, and with hours wasted waiting on planes or in departure lounges, many crews eventually reach their maximum duty time. This prevents the flight from taking off even if the plane is available, forcing companies to call on last-minute reservation teams and generating new cascade cancellations. The final impact is on connection logistics, creating a bottleneck at customer service desks. The delay of a single flight arriving in São Paulo can cause dozens of passengers to miss their stops in other states, generating an immediate demand for relocation. The problem is that during peak season, subsequent flights depart virtually full, leaving little or no margin to accommodate these travelers, who find themselves stuck in airports for days waiting for a seat. The scenario could become even more critical this Friday, a day traditionally with high passenger volume and which marks the start of the high season, which could further saturate the flights available for reaccommodation. Faced with seat shortages and fleet deposition, companies have begun resorting to alternative measures to meet demand, offering bus travel and app-based transportation in sections where ground travel is viable. Passengers experience saga between airports Among the affected passengers is promoter Matheus Ribamar, who was making a stopover in São Paulo from Curitiba en route to Brasilia. Bad weather caused a significant delay in his trip: the flight that was supposed to leave the capital of Paraná at noon only took off three hours later, causing him to land on São Paulo soil at 4 p.m. and miss the initial connection with the Federal District. —You’re late, aren’t you? My other flight leaving here was delayed, but it was less delayed than the first one, so I ended up missing it. We spoke with the airline staff and, in my case, it’s a little calmer. They managed to get a seat on another flight at 7:40 p.m., with an expected arrival time of 9:30 p.m. The delay was therefore five hours over the entire section.
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