BBC: Brazil's airports won't be ready
 

Rousseff as she said needs to open the upgrading process up to private investment. Give incentives for finishing ahead of schedule and stiff penalties for not. Imagining a couple of extra 200,000 people at GIG or GRU is not pretty.

Getting a little late to start opening up the process for bids, with work to start later, but in some cases it might work. And at least the government admitting the problem is a first step (though airport overcrowding has been an issue for a while). The president is already facing a big budget deficit, so it won't be easy to come up with extra funds, but I imagine few will vote against it (they'll have to cut other things). I can't imagine any new airports being built in 3 years, but could be wrong. The report mentions the idea of using alternative airports. Not sure in how many places there are feasible alternatives to the main existing airports (more difficult for international flights, since extra facilities are needed).

Just saw that the country's head of civil aviation has said the airports will be ready and there's no cause for concern.

They have been building a new airport in VIX for the past 4 or 5 years. Start and stop due to fraud uncovered. Now supposed to be ready in 2013. Don't know of any events scheduled to take place in VIX connected to either the World Cup or Olympics, but might be an alternative. Just don't know if the new terminal will have facilities for Passport Control and Customs. They currently do get cargo flights nonstop from Miami with 767s, and I imagine someone has to inspect the crew, not to mention the crew on ships since it is a shipping port. So there are some inspection resources there that could be augmented.

Brazil to Sell Airports in Sao Paulo, Brasilia to Host World Cup, Olympics
 

An article from Bloomberg

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-0...-olympics.html

It seems unlikely thatanything will be ready. Not one stadium is on schedule, IIRC. None of the airports are progressing as needed. The facilities are poor at best eerywhere. Public transport options are all behind schedule or not started. Facilities for teams, support and visitors are all behind.

I hate to be a pessimist, but this is a disaster in process. We still have debate about whether and how to privatize airports, much less final designs and work started.

It smells like the Pan American games but worse.:(

I said it somewhere else and I'll repeat it here: so far it looks like this will be a major embarassment for Brazil. And I dread to think about the Olympics in Rio...

And yes, I hope I'm wrong on both cases. :(

Isnt this a repeat of South Africa..... and in the end, everything was finished on time. Why will this be different....?

We all devoutly hope you're correct. It is hard to be optimistic when you read the newspaper every day. Of course Presient Dilma is beginning regular meetings of all concerned, albeit starting that rather too late.

Veja magazine
 

For anyone with access to this week's Veja magazine, can see the small corruption story of Infraero and why Brazilian airports are in such condition right now.

"Brazilians are not interested in planning the world cup, they just want to win it!"

I hear this so many times while in Brazil.

With the lack of progress towards Brazil being ready for the upcoming events, I tend to believe the above quotation.
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Things will fall together eventually. It might be crowded at the airports but I am sure things will come together. There are enough powerful and rich people who stand to make tons of money for them not to.

Here is an interesting article that appears in today's New York Times concerning Brazil.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/05/op...5.html?_r=1&hp

As a Carioca I am eternally optimistic. Maybe my lenses are not quite so "rose-colored" as are Mr. Cohen's (Apartments prices have not "quadrupled" in the last year anywhere here, doubled yes) but things are improving.

There was even a report by economists of Banco Santander today suggesting that Brazil will have fewer people living in poverty than does the US by the end of 2011! The progress is astounding and mostly very positive.

There are still negatives and the topic of this thread is one of them. Public works here seem to fall victim of what Henrique Mirelles, the new head of the games coordinating body, calls a "vibrant democracy". He's correct. Brazil is a very immature democracy so nobody is comfortable asserting dominance over anyone elses right to stop something.

Thus there remains lots of impunity and progress is sometimes slow.

Today I am optimistic. I think we'll somehow be ready.;) Don't ask about tomorrow.:(

% of people living in poverty or total number? The population of the two countries is quite different. Also, would the same defintiions of poverty be used to define it in both countries? I do hope things work out. The rate of inflation, the generally high cost of living, plus the very high rate of personal credit card debt (with interest rates that are staggering-- many,many times what people in the U.S. pay) are worrisome. There are, of course, reasons for optimism, as well.

Anyway, Fortaleza is still promising its airport will be ready for the World Cup, with a great increase in capacity. Work hasn't even started, but hope springs eternal.

Yesterday, CNN reported on South Korea winning the bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics. The Korean organizers were promsing a huge econmic boom, including the addition of 200,000 jobs (!) due to the games. The report went on to say that rosey prospects of gains from hosting the Olympics don't always pan out (in fact, they virtually never do), citing the example of Montreal, where organizers predicted they'd at least brek even. But after the event was over, there ended up being a debt of over $1.5 billion, which was paid off 30 years later (by which time there were calls to tear down the under-utilized stadium and other structures).

The reference was to absolute numbers and to PPP (Purchasing Power Parity). In percentage terms brazil will still be worse. However right now Brazil has less percapita poverty than does Washington DC. These things are not good ones for pride; they show how deep the impact of recession has been on poor people in the USA. Brazil has done better but there is a long way to go.

Hope does spring eternal, and it is humorous, in a cynical sort of way, to see South Korea drink the same strange brew that other countries do when they sponsor these activities that never break even, much less generate profit, but they always plan for and promote magic. Luckily we in Brazil are not the only ones.

Actually, some of the airport work in Fortaleza has started: A neighbor of mine has the new lighting contract, which is well underway.

I was given a tour of the stadium construction there which is moving along quite well. The only problem facing the construction schedule was the heavy rain in April and May.

It will happen, perhaps on extended shifts, but it will happen.

Pensamento positivo. Fe em Deus !

I'll be taking my wife to the airport when she goes to Teresina (THE) late next week, so I'll check out the lighting. Of course, that doesn't increase the capacity of the airport. Wish the parking lot was covered (due to heat), but I'm sure any priority there would be increasing the # of spaces (maybe not a priority for arriving tourists). Hope they can increase transportation options from teh airport and from the beach areas (where most tourists will stay) to the stadiums Not much hope of improving the roads (city still claims it has no money to fix potholes).

Do you have ins at the airport? I'd love to get a behind-the-scenes tour. When I worked in Maputo a few years ago, I once wandered out to a plane on the tarmac without being questioned.

Sure wish Delta hadn't stopped using FOR. It's a pain to have to go to GIG or GRU or MAO to get to the U.S. (haven't done that since TAM stopped direct flights from FOR to MIA; now need to change planes in MAO). Haven't yet tried AA's service out of Recife.

I agree with your comment regarding the airport parking. Even a fabric roof, seen at the Familia markets, would protect passengers from the heat and the rain.

Ten years ago, the bridge past Praia de Futuro was common discussion. A number of our neighbors stated it would never happen. As you are aware the road now out to Porto Das Dunas is being widened 2x, and was being graded by a large crew in multiple locations up to the Alphaville curve. The vehicle traffic there is already evident, and anyone owning property there is very fortunate indeed given the high value.

On recent occasion in May, my wife and I have been driving behind asphalt trucks in the city manned by a crew of 8 that finds a pothole, stops all traffic (us), and then fills and tamps the potholes manually using grain shovels.

Considering that some of these pothole " craters " can easily swallow a Kombi or a small SUV, I highly praise whomever is funding and managing this effort.

Used both FOR and GIG for a recent trip to, and back from, the States. Rio's airport still looks small for one expecting a huge influx of tourists. Terminal 2, used by TAM, US Airways and others, is obviously more modern, and roomier, though with a dearth of any stores. Terminal 1, which we walked through to get to the American Express Centurion Club, is much more retro (well, outdated). The check-in areas for Gol and other airlines are very cramped. We had a poor but expensive meal in the food court on the way out. On the way back, we ate at the Hotel Luxor in Terminal 1, and had a better meal for the same price (the hotel's room rates, however, were shockingingly high, much higher than we paid at the much more upscale Westin at the Detroit Airport; glad we didn't have to get even a day room at the Luxor). We were flying Biz Class to the States (US Airways) so made use of the VIP club in the international departures area. Nice. On the return, our only choice seemed to be the Am Ex club, outside of security.

Some work at FOR may be begun, but we saw no evidence of it. Lighting work was mentioned in an earlier post; maybe the lighting is now better somewhere in the terminal. We saw no signs of work to expand the airport's capacity in anticipation of hosting World Cup games in 2014. Maybe there will be big changes in the next two years, but that seems to be asking a lot, judging by the time it's taken to expand airports in other locations. Vamos ver. Lack of preparation at GIG is a bigger concern.