Sao Paulo Guarulhos Airport

Project Title Master Plan, Conceptual Terminal Design, Bid Management 2012; Master Plan Update 2018
Airport Sao Paulo Guarulhos
IATA / ICAO GRU / SBGR
Location Sao Paulo, Brazil
Time Frame 2011-2012; 2018
Capacity [1] 40 MAP, [2] 51 MAP, [3] 57 MAP, [4] 60 MAP
Client Invepar; GRU Airport

Airport Privatisation 2012
Sao Paulo is the biggest and most important economic metropolis of South America.
Our company entered the Brazilian market during the first round of privatizations towards the end of 2011 and quickly began a cooperation with Invepar – Brazil’s leading infrastructure management company. We advised Invepar in their successful bid for GRU Airport; the consortium led by Invepar together with ACSA. The fruitful cooperation continued as we were awarded another consultancy contract during the transition of GRU Airport. The contract included strategic advisory services, a terminal retail concept, a master plan as well as a concept design for the new international T3 Terminal. The total value of the contract amounted to EUR 1.4 milion. The T3 Terminal was designed to an initial capacity of 20 MAP. We had been given a tight schedule, since the new terminal was supposed to become operational in 2014, just in time for the world cup. As such, meeting deadlines and securing the long-term airside capacity were the biggest challenges of this project. That being said, we were able to establish an efficient working relationship with the airport authorities and the new T3 Terminal was inaugurated in May 2014.

Master Plan Update 2018
GRU Airport is a long-standing client of ours going back to 2012 when we were first tasked with developing a master plan. In 2018, the airport reenlisted our services to perform a review of the master plan. Our work progressed in stages beginning with an analysis of six proposed scenarios based on international regulations, national standards and international benchmarks. Said analysis led to the selection of three finalist scenarios which we studied in detail including a capacity evaluation and an airside simulation performed with CAST software. The third step of the project entailed an indepth analysis of the final scenario chosen by the client as well as a functional terminal development concept. Following a successful completion of the project in January 2019, GRU Airport extended our scope of services to include a study of the impact of a 3rd runway as well as an in-depth analysis of another master plan scenario.

Photographs © Cacalos Garrastazu 2014