More than 25,000 passengers in Brazil saw flightsdelayed or cancelled after a damaged cargo jet blocked the lone runway at oneof the country's busiest airports for two days, officials said Monday.
Separately, the check-in system at Tam airlines, Brazil'sbiggest, was down for three hours early Monday at all locations around theworld where the company operates, adding to the air transport chaos in LatinAmerica's biggest nation. Critics say improving the nation's woeful airports isone of its biggest challenges before it hosts the 2014 World Cup.
Azul Airlines, which operates about 85 percent of theflights at the Campinas airport north of Sao Paulo, said late Monday afternoonthat its flights would resume normal operations by early evening after thedamaged cargo jet was removed from the airport's only runway. The jet, owned byU.S.-based Centurion Cargo, blew out a tire upon landing Saturday night — ittook Brazilian officials until Monday to locate the proper heavy equipment toremove the plane.
The Campinas airport, also known as Viracopos, was Brazil'sninth-busiest last year, according to government statistics, and was earlierthis year named as one of three the government said it would privatize.
"Although operations at Viracopos have been freed up,delays and cancellations may still occur," Azul said in a statement.
A spokeswoman for Tam airlines declined to say how manyflights were delayed or cancelled because of the problems with its check-in system.The company operates about 800 flights a day around the globe. With thecheck-in system down, passengers' tickets had to be processed by hand atairports. Brazilian TV showed long lines and crowded terminals at main airportsin Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
Improving airports plagued with bottlenecks, long lines andpoor infrastructure was a key promise made by the government in its winning bidto host soccer's premiere event in 2014. Hundreds of thousands of fans will flybetween the 12 host cities for matches.
Brazil's airports have buckled under demand that tripled inthe past decade. In 2002, airlines flew 34.3 million passengers on flightsoriginating in Brazil. That rose to 107.8 million last year, Brazil's civilaviation agency reported.
In an effort to make quick improvements, Brazil's governmentearlier this year privatized operations at three of the nation's main airports,including at Campinas, awarding $14 billion in contracts to three consortiumsthat will expand and run terminals.
However, the Campinas airport is still being operated byInfraero, the state-run agency that has long run the country's airports. Theother airports privatized include the nation's busiest airport in Sao Paulo,along with those in the capital Brasilia and in Campinas.
Together, the three airports are responsible for 30 percentof Brazil's passenger traffic.