Belo Horizonte

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Lore & Background

The airport was built by Infraero and inaugurated in 1984 to lessen the congestion of Pampulha Airport, which was operating at 120% of its capacity of 1.3 million passengers per year. It was expected that by 1990, passenger movement at Confins would be nearly 2 million passengers per year, but it surpassed the 1 million passenger mark only 22 years later. After its inauguration, just a small fraction of the capacity was used, partly due to its distance from downtown Belo Horizonte and the lack of satisfactory transportation alternatives for the pricey (about US$40) taxi rides. In March 2005, the government of the state of Minas Gerais with the support of agencies of the Federal government decided to restrict Pampulha to operations of aircraft with capacity of up to 50 passengers. In the months thereafter, most operations were forced to move to Confins, and 130 flights were transferred from Pampulha to Confins, increasing annual passenger flow from 350,000 to around 3.0 million that year. The problems related to the distance were lessened by projects such as the improvement of the MG-10 highway, part of a larger project called Linha Verde (Green Line). Another project called the 'Industrial Airport' is underway, where the government will exempt tax of businesses interested in settling their operations near the airport.

Reader's Guide

The airport's cargo facilities have a capacity of handling 18.000 tones (39.682.000 lb) and the warehouse has 6.400 m2 (68.889 ft²). The main maintenance facilities of Gol Airlines are located at this airport. On 22 November 2013, the Brazilian Government had a bidding process to determine the operator of the airport from 2014. The group Aerobrasil, also known as BH Airport, formed by the Brazilian investment company CCR (75%) and by the Swiss operator Flughafen Zürich AG (25%) won the bid. On April 26, 2025 CCR was rebranded as Motiva. On 16 September 2015, all international operations were transferred to a new provisional terminal - Terminal 3 while domestic operations remained in Terminal 1. The construction of Terminal 2 - an extension of Terminal 1 - started in September 2015 and finished in December 2016. It increased the airports capacity to 22 million passengers per year. On 8 December 2016 Terminal 2 was opened for domestic operations and in January 2017 international operations were transferred from Terminal 3. With the transfer of operations, Terminal 3 was closed. On 31 August 2009, Infraero unveiled a BRL342.3 million (US$180.3 million; EUR126.4 million) investment plan to upgrade the airport, focusing on preparations for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. As part of the concession, BH Airport committed itself to construct a new parallel runway with a length of 2,500 metres (8,200 ft), connecting taxiways and service roads as well as a multi-storey car park until 2020. On November 18, 2025 the entire airports portfolio of Motiva (formerly CCR) was sold to the Mexican airport operator ASUR. Later, on August 20, 2026, the Swiss operator Flughafen Zürich AG sold its participation on BH Airport to ASUR. As a result, as of August 2026, BH Airport is formed by Asur with 51% and Infraero with 49% of the shares. On August 21, 2026 both transactions were still pending government approval.

Did You Know?

• The airport was named after Tancredo de Almeida Neves (1910–1985), President-elect of Brazil, since 2 September 1986.
• It was built by Infraero and inaugurated in 1984 to lessen congestion at Pampulha Airport, which was operating at 120% of its capacity of 1.3 million passengers per year.
• In March 2005, the government restricted Pampulha to aircraft with capacity of up to 50 passengers, forcing 130 flights to move to Confins and increasing annual passenger flow from 350,000 to around 3.0 million that year.
• The main maintenance facilities of Gol Airlines are located at this airport.
• On 15 September 2001, a TAM Airlines Fokker 100 made an emergency landing at the airport after an uncontrolled engine failure; one passenger was sucked out partly and did not survive.