Brazil’s Viracopos airport concession will have minimum bid of US$673 million

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Re-bidding of the concession of the Viracopos international airport, in Campinas, São Paulo, has a minimum bid set at R$3.5 billion (US$673 million). Economic and financial assessment studies of the airport also foresee investments of R$4.5 billion during the concession’s 30 years, which will include one new runway and not three, as agreed in the previous concession.

With two runways, one could be exclusive for cargo flights, as the terminal is one of the largest in Brazil in terms of cargo. The airport is expected to have a flow of around 37 million passengers by the end of the concession, half of what was foreseen in the original project.

In addition to reducing the excess dimensions in Viracopos, the study also adjusted the curve according to the impact of the pandemic, which caused a delay of 5 years to return to the pre-pandemic levels.

Triunfo Participações and UTC were forced to return the concession when they filed for bankruptcy proceedings. The current concessionaire paid R$3.8 billion in premium, and it should challenge the current call for bid.

The feasibility study is under public consultation and will later be forwarded to the Federal Audit Court (TCU). Bidding is expected to take place from March next year. As it is an election year, it cannot be delayed beyond June.