São Paulo/Guarulhos–Governor André Franco Montoro International Airport

São Paulo/Guarulhos–Governor André Franco Montoro International Airport
GRUSBGR

São Paulo/Guarulhos–Governor André Franco Montoro International Airport

São Paulo, Brazil · Latin America
Latin America America/Sao_Paulo IVCA 50.5
112direct destinations
32airlines
2runways
3,700 mLongest runway
1985opened

São Paulo/Guarulhos–Governor André Franco Montoro International Airport (IATA: GRU, ICAO: SBGR), commonly known as São Paulo/Guarulhos International Airport, is the primary international airport serving São Paulo, located in the municipality of Guarulhos, in the state of São Paulo. It is the largest airport in Brazil and Latin America, and one of the 50 busiest in the world by passenger traffic. It is popularly known locally as either Cumbica Airport, after the district where it is located and the Brazilian Air Force base that exists at the Guarulhos Airport, after the municipality where it is located. Since 28 November 2001, the airport has been named after André Franco Montoro (1916–1999), former Governor of São Paulo state. The airport was rebranded as GRU Airport in 2012. The airport is the busiest in Brazil in terms of transported passengers, aircraft operations, and cargo handled. Guarulhos has slot restrictions, operating with a maximum of 45 operations/hour and being one of the five airports with such restrictions in Brazil (the others are São Paulo-Congonhas, Brasília, Belo Horizonte-Pampulha and Rio de Janeiro-Santos Dumont). Since 2012, the airport has been operated by a consortium composed of Invepar S/A, Airports Company South Africa, and Infraero. Some of its facilities are shared with the São Paulo Air Force Base of the Brazilian Air Force.

Location

Mapa

23.431°S, 46.470°O · 750 m s. n. m. (2.461 ft)

General data

CountryBrazil
CitySão Paulo
Coordinates23.431°S, 46.470°O
Elevation750 m s. n. m. (2.461 ft)
Time zoneAmerica/Sao_Paulo
Longest runway3,700 m
OperatorInfraero
Opened1985
Direct destinations112
Passengers per year47,188,085 (2025)

Runways · 2

10L/28R
Length3,700 m12,139 ft
Width45 m148 ft
SurfaceAsphalt
Lighted✓
10R/28L
Length3,000 m9,843 ft
Width45 m148 ft
SurfaceAsphalt
Lighted✓

Lengths and surfaces from the public OurAirports register; open runways only.

Radio frequencies · 5

Tower

132.750GUARULHOS TWR

Ground

121.700GUARULHOS GROUND

Clearance delivery

121.000CLNC DEL

ATIS (automatic information)

127.750

Approach

119.800SAO PAULO APP
Look for a live feed on LiveATC External site; not every airport has a feed.

Reference frequencies for enthusiasts, from OurAirports (community database, public domain), checked on Oct 16, 2026. They may be outdated or incomplete and do not replace the AIP or current charts: not for navigation. In Europe the published frequency may be an 8.33 kHz channel (e.g., 118.505 for 118.500). In MHz.

History

In 2010, the airport served more than 26.8 million passengers, an increase of 24% over 2009 and passenger volumes were 31% in excess of its capacity rated at 20.5 million per year at its present configuration. In order to relieve the acute overcrowding at the Terminals 1 and 2, Infraero announced on 17 May 2011 that the former cargo terminals of the defunct airlines VASP and Transbrasil, later used by Federal Agencies, would undergo renovations and adaptations for use as domestic passenger terminals with remote boarding. This new terminal was initially called Terminal 4 (T4). The first phase of the renovations, comprising the former VASP terminal, opened on 8 February 2012, and the second phase, comprising the former Transbrasil terminal, was opened in June 2013. Contrary to what had been announced before, the new terminal will be permanent. Webjet was the first airline to use the new facility. The new terminal, in its first phase, increased the capacity of the airport in 5.5 million passengers/year and, in the second phase to 8 million passengers/year. In total, Guarulhos would then be able to handle 28.5 million passengers/year. Responding to critiques to the situation of its airports, on 18 May 2011, Infraero released a list evaluating some of its most important airports according to its saturation levels. According to the list, Guarulhos was considered to be critically saturated, operating above 85% of its capacity. Following a decision made on 26 April 2011 by the Federal Government for private companies being granted concessions to explore some Infraero airports, on 6 February 2012, the administration of the airport was conceded, for 20 years, to the Consortium Invepar–ACSA, also known as GRU Airport, composed by the Brazilian Invepar, an Investments and Funds Society (90%) and the South African ACSA–Airports Company South Africa (10%). Infraero, the state-run organisation, remains with 49% of the shares of the company incorporated for the administration. On 2 December 2015, the airport's terminals were renumbered. The former Terminal 4 was renumbered Terminal 1; the former terminals 1 and 2, which were wings of a single building, became the new Terminal 2. The Terminal 3 kept its numbering. The new numbering reflects the order by which terminals are reached when one arrives at the airport by the access road, and is expected to be less confusing in the long term. Check-in counters and gates were also renumbered, with the first digit being now the new terminal number. On 28 October 2015, the National Civil Aviation Agency of Brazil (Anac) authorised Airbus A380 operations at Guarulhos Airport, effective four days later. The authorisation was granted after extensive works were conducted on the runways and taxiways (including widening runway 09L/27R to 60 metres (196 ft 10 in)) and special taxiing procedures were established. On 14 November 2015, Emirates operated a one-time special flight with the A380 on its Dubai-São Paulo route to commemorate its eight years of operations in Brazil. On 26 March 2017, Emirates started daily A380 service from Dubai to São Paulo, replacing the Boeing 777-300ER previously used on that route – coincidentally, on the same day that the other UAE airline, Etihad, ended its services to São Paulo.

Photo: Andomenda · CC BY 3.0 · view original

Data from OurAirports (public domain) · destinations and airlines from Wikipedia route tables (CC BY-SA, 2026), unless another source is given · profile and photo from Wikidata/Wikimedia Commons (CC0 / CC) · summary and history from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).

Cite

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This page was last updated on October 15, 2026

APA

Vuelopedia. (2026, October 15). São Paulo/Guarulhos–Governor André Franco Montoro International Airport (GRU). Retrieved October 16, 2026, from https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/GRU

MLA

“São Paulo/Guarulhos–Governor André Franco Montoro International Airport (GRU).” Vuelopedia, Fundación Poderia, 15 Oct. 2026, vuelopedia.org/en/airport/GRU. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

Chicago

Vuelopedia. “São Paulo/Guarulhos–Governor André Franco Montoro International Airport (GRU).” Fundación Poderia. Last modified October 15, 2026. https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/GRU.

Harvard

Vuelopedia (2026) São Paulo/Guarulhos–Governor André Franco Montoro International Airport (GRU). Available at: https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/GRU (Accessed: 16 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{vuelopedia_en_airport_gru,
  author       = {{Vuelopedia}},
  title        = {{São Paulo/Guarulhos–Governor André Franco Montoro International Airport (GRU)}},
  publisher    = {Fundación Poderia},
  year         = {2026},
  date         = {2026-10-15},
  url          = {https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/GRU},
  howpublished = {\url{https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/GRU}},
  urldate      = {2026-10-16},
  note         = {Accessed 2026-10-16}
}

Wikipedia

{{cite web |url=https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/GRU |title=São Paulo/Guarulhos–Governor André Franco Montoro International Airport (GRU) |website=Vuelopedia |publisher=Fundación Poderia |date=2026-10-15 |access-date=2026-10-16 |language=en}}