RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazil counted more than 62.5 million people flying within or to the country in 2021. The figure represents a growth of 20.4% compared to the previous year when 51.9 million passengers had traveled through the country’s airports.
The highlight was the month of December, which recorded the highest number of people transported since January 2020. The data were released Friday (Jan. 28) by the National Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC) and underscore the gradual recovery of Brazilian tourism over the past year.
According to Tourism Minister Gilson Machado Neto, the figure shows the resumption of travel in the country, which has occurred due to the expansion of the number of people vaccinated and the adoption of health protocols against Covid-19 in the industry.
“More than 30.6 thousand establishments and tour guides have already joined the Responsible Tourism Seal of the Ministry of Tourism and are adopting safer practices, giving Brazil a prominent position on the world stage as a protected and responsible destination,” emphasizes Gilson Machado Neto.
In December, the best month of the year, 7.7 million passengers were recorded on flights within the country. This index is the closest to the pre-crisis scenario and represents the highest volume of paid passengers in Brazilian airports in the last 21 months. Since April 2021, the number of passengers in the country has increased month by month.
The busiest airports include Guarulhos, with more than 24 million passengers throughout the year, and Brasília and Viracopos, which exceeded 10 million in 2021.
The terminals operated by Infraero handled 37.8 million passengers, an increase of 38% compared to 2020. In Porto Alegre (RS), 4.8 million people embarked and disembarked in the city. In Recife (PE) and Maceió (AL), there were 7.5 million and 1.9 million, respectively.