Commercial flights at flood-damaged Porto Alegre airport to resume in October

Brazil’s government has declared that the flood-hit Porto Alegre airport will be re-opened to commercial flights from 21 October. Minister for ports and airports Silvio Costa Filho has authorised carriers to resume ticket sales to the airport and says its operator expects full capacity to be restored from 16 December. Porto Alegre’s Salgado Filho airport suffered extensive flooding as a result of destructive storms that hit the state of Rio Grande do Sul at the end of April. Flights were suspended from 3 May. The government says restoration of service will be “gradual”, beginning with 128 aircraft movements over a 14h period, and civil aviation regulator ANAC will decide on initial slot allocation for airlines seeking to resume flights. Costa Filho says the measure “will, without a doubt, accelerate the recovery of the state’s economy”.<br/>