By Jay Forte, Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – More than one million passengers are expected at Infraero airports with scheduled commercial flights between yesterday (Thursday, November 1st) through Monday, due to the Dia dos Finados (Day of the Dead or All Souls’ Day), a holiday celebrated today (November 2nd).
According to Infraero, the number represents an increase of 4.1 percent in relation to the same period last year, when approximately 973,000 departures and landings were accounted for in terminals administered by the company. Infraero (Empresa Brasileira de Infraestrutura Aeroportuária) is a Brazilian government corporation founded in 1973.
The organization also expects an increase in aircraft flights with 8,889 takeoffs and landings estimated, a figure that represents an increase of 3.7 percent in relation to the 8,575 commercial flights registered in 2017.
In order to service the increased travelers during the holiday, Infraero said they will add to security and operations teams. “The company also made preventive adjustments in equipment such as luggage belts, elevators and escalators, among others,” the company said in a statement.
A lot of people are expected to also travel by bus this holiday. In the city of São Paulo, the Tietê, Barra Funda and Jabaquara bus terminals are expected to receive 635,000 passengers between now and Monday. The forecast is that 175,000 people leave the capital of São Paulo state by bus between yesterday and Monday, according to the company Socicam Terminals of Passengers.
According to a report by government news agency, Agencia Brasil, the destinations most sought by the Paulistanos are Curitiba, Florianópolis, Belo Horizonte, Rio de Janeiro and Litoral de São Paulo.
In the interior of São Paulo state the travel will also be heavy. The Ramos de Azevedo bus terminal in Campinas is expected to receive more than 112,000 passengers between yesterday and Monday.
Approximately 27,000 are expected to leave the city between yesterday and today, according to Socicam. The most popular cities are Americana, Sorocaba, Jundiaí, Praia Grande and São Paulo.
At the Interstate Bus Terminal in Brasilia, the New Terminal Consortium, responsible for the management, estimates to receive more than 33 thousand passengers until Monday. The expectation is that 8,000 people leave the federal capital between today and tomorrow.
The cities most sought by the Brasilienses are Belo Horizonte, Caldas Novas, Goiânia, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. The forecast is that 35 extra buses are put into circulation.
Dia dos Finados is the fifth of eight extended holidays of the year, after Dia de Nossa Senhora Aparecida, 7th of September (Brazil’s Independence Day) and Labor Day. The next will be Proclamação da República (Republic Proclamation Day) on November 15th.