Brazil Prepares for the Summer Olympics with New Airport Additions

As host of the World Cup of soccer in 2012, Brazil got a glimpse of what it is like to host one of the biggest sporting events in the world. However, this measly soccer tournament can be considered a warm-up for the South American nation as it prepares for an even larger event involving even more nations and thousands more people. Brazil still has a lot of work to do to prepare for the second influx of tourists in 2016 for the Summer Olympic Games.

In particular, Rio de Janeiro Airport is focusing its efforts on completing expansion construction that began back in 2014. The construction includes adding new arrivals and departures halls from which 26 jet bridges will fan out, and a car park expansion. This construction work will allow the passenger transfer capacity to rise from 18.9 million in 2014 to 30.4 million in 2016, and the expanded car park will allow the vehicle capacity to increase from 3,810 parking spaces to 6,450 parking spaces in 2016.

The airport is certainly preparing for a higher influx of passengers, but engineers figured out how to expand the airport without needing to add a second runway for arrivals and departures. As one of the largest, yet slightly unstable, economies in the world, Brazil has the ability and capacity to expand upon existing infrastructure and open its doors for the world’s largest sporting event.