Brasília was only a project when in 1956 President Juscelino Kubitschek landed for the first time in the Central Plateau. Vera Cruz Airport, built in 1955 by the then Deputy-Governor of Goiás, Bernardo Sayão, at the request of the chairman of the location of the New Federal Capital, Marechal José Pessoa, already existed. On 2 October 1955, the airport received the first crew of workers that would build the new capital. This facility was located where today is the Integrated Bus and Train Terminal of Brasília. It had a dirt runway of and a passenger terminal in a makeshift, cob-wall shack covered with buriti-leaves. This facility, however, was only temporary. The relocation to a definitive site had already been identified as a priority and construction works started on 6 November 1956. The works lasted for only over six months and required the clearing of an area of, of earthwork, base-stabilized, covering, topographical services, positioning and leveling. The runway was designed to have a length of but initially it had only, and was wide. The passenger terminal was built of wood. On 2 April 1957, the presidential aircraft landed for the first time at the site and the official inauguration took place on 3 May 1957. That year, on the same location the :pt:Base Aérea de Brasília|Brasília Air Force Base was also commissioned. In 1965 Oscar Niemeyer proposed a project for Brasília Airport to replace the wooden terminal. However, due to the 1964 Brazilian coup d'état, the military-government chose to build the project of Tércio Fontana Pacheco, an architect of the Brazilian Air Force Ministry. The airport is thus one of the few important buildings in Brasília that is not related to Niemeyer. This building was opened in 1971 and since 1990 it has been under renovation following an architectural concept of the architect Sergio Roberto Parada. In 1990 Brasília International Airport underwent its first major renovation and began to gain its present form with a central body and two satellites. The first phase included the construction of an access-viaduct to the passenger terminal and metal cover inaugurated in 1992 and the first circular satellite, inaugurated in 1994. In the second phase, the main body of the passenger terminal was renovated to include a shopping-mall and the satellite received nine jetways. In 2005, a second runway was opened. In April 2014 the South Concourse, which serves domestic flights, was opened.
2010
Until April 2014, the terminal was capable of handling 9 million passengers per year, but actually handled around 14 million. With numbers constantly increasing, the former terminal for general aviation originally built in 1988 was renovated and transformed into Passenger Terminal 2. It was opened for traffic on 2 August 2010. Following a decision made on 26 April 2011 by the Federal Government for private companies being granted concessions to operate some Infraero airports, on 6 February 2012, the administration of the airport was granted for 25 years to the :pt:Consórcio Inframérica|Consortium Inframérica, formed by the Brazilian Engineering Group and the Argentinean Group . Inframérica also won the concession of Gov. Aluízio Alves International Airport in Natal. Infraero, the state-run organization, retains 49% of the shares of the company incorporated for the administration. The BrazilianIntegrated Air Traffic Control and Air Defense Center section 1 is located in the vicinity of the airport. On 31 August 2009, Infraero unveiled a BRL514.8 million investment plan to renovate Presidente Juscelino Kubitschek International Airport, focusing on the preparations for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Brasília being one of the venue cities, and the Summer Olympics in 2016 which were held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil:
Enlargement of apron and taxiways. Completed in April 2013
Renovation of the existing passenger terminal. Completed in November 2015
Enlargement of the passenger terminal. Completed in April 2015
Parking. Completed in April 2014
Between 2012 and 2014, the consortium INFRAMERICA invested R$1.2 billion: remodeling the terminal, increasing from 13 to 29 jetways and 40 to 70 airplane positions. For 2016-19 there are planned investments for the international area, new parking construction, four new hotels in the vicinity, a new business area and other facilities. New international service started in 2019: Cancún, Mexico, Santiago, Chile , Lima, Peru and Asunción, Paraguay
2020
Brasília International Airport acquired 2 robots to help clean the 2 terminal floors, making it the first airport in South America to do it so. The machines stores 45 liters of water and can clean up to 1200 m² per hour, with a battery life of 4 hours.
25 April 1970: a VASPBoeing 737-2A1 en route from Brasília to Manaus-Ponta Pelada was hijacked by a person who demanded to be flown to Cuba. The hijack lasted a day.
14 May 1970: a Viação Aérea São Paulo Boeing 737-2A1 en route from Brasília to Manaus-Ponta Pelada was hijacked by a person who demanded to be flown to Cuba. The hijack lasted a day.
22 February 1975: a VASP Boeing 737-2A1 registration PP-SMU en route from Goiânia to Brasília was hijacked by a person who demanded ransom. The hijacker was taken down.
25 May 1982: a VASP Boeing 737-2A1 registration PP-SMY on landing procedures at Brasília during rain, made a hard landing with nose gear first. The gear collapsed and the aircraft skidded off the runway breaking in two. Two passengers out of 118 occupants died.
Access
The airport is located from downtown Brasília. Regular buses, numbers 102 and 102.1, are frequent and link the airport to the main bus terminal at Rodoviária, from where travelers can catch buses or the subway to other parts of the city. The airport is also served by taxis.
