São Paulo’s Guarulhos Airport People Mover Finally Carries Riders

São Paulo

After four years of construction and a long run of missed deadlines, the train linking São Paulo’s Guarulhos airport to the city’s rail network is finally carrying passengers.

For anyone who has flown into São Paulo’s busiest international airport and tried to reach the city by train, the last stretch has long been the awkward part. The commuter rail stops near the airport, not inside it, leaving a shuttle-bus gap.

That gap now has a faster fix. A small automated train known as the People Mover opened to the general public on February 20, connecting the terminals to the railway in a fraction of the old time.

What the Guarulhos airport link changes

The journey it replaces was a free bus that wound between the train station and the terminals. Depending on traffic, that ride could take around twenty minutes.

The People Mover does the same trip in about six. It runs on an elevated track 2.7 kilometres long, with four stations, and needs no driver.

One end of the line sits at the Airport-Guarulhos station of Line 13-Jade, a commuter rail line run by the CPTM, São Paulo state’s suburban train operator. The other stations serve the airport’s three terminals in turn.

From that rail connection, a traveller can ride into central São Paulo and change onto the wider metro network. The link matters because Guarulhos handles the bulk of the city’s international flights yet has never had a smooth rail connection of its own, a gap the federal government moved to close when it made the system a binding term of the airport concession.

The Brazilian technology under the tracks

What makes the system unusual is how it moves. The train uses a homegrown technology called Aeromóvel, developed by a company from the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul.

Instead of an onboard motor, the carriages are pushed along by compressed air blown through ducts beneath the track. The result is a train that is electric, quiet and low on emissions.

The same Brazilian system already runs a short airport link in Porto Alegre, in the country’s south. Guarulhos is a far larger and more demanding test of the idea.

Each train can hold up to 200 people, and with two carriages running the line is designed to move as many as 2,000 passengers an hour in each direction. That capacity is what the airport will need at full demand.

Why it took so long

The project has a long history of slipping dates. Construction began in June 2022, with the line first promised for 2024, then pushed repeatedly through 2025 and into 2026.

Building an automated railway through a working airport added difficulty at every step. Safety and logistics constraints came with keeping the terminals running throughout.

The delays drew official scrutiny. Brazil’s civil aviation regulator opened an administrative process against the airport concession over the missed deadlines, and noted that the operator had at times offered only verbal timelines rather than firm schedules.

The slow rollout reflects the complexity of certifying the system rather than any single fault. Signalling and automation approvals for a busy airport proved harder than first expected.

What riders can expect now

The opening is real but partial. The train first ran in December for airport staff only, then opened to the general public in February on restricted hours.

For the time being it runs at reduced capacity, with the rollout staged as certification continues. Full operation, with both trains running and longer hours, is expected in the second half of the year.

The free buses still run alongside the train for now. Travellers heading for a flight should treat the People Mover as a faster option that is still bedding in, rather than a finished service to rely on under time pressure.

Why a foreign reader should care

For visitors and residents alike, this closes one of the more irritating gaps in reaching São Paulo by public transport. A smoother airport connection makes the train a more realistic alternative to a long, costly taxi ride into the city.

There is a quieter industrial angle too. The line is a showcase for a Brazilian-developed transit technology, and its performance at a major airport will shape whether the idea travels any further.

More: Brazil news in English, every day from The Rio Times.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the Guarulhos airport People Mover open to the public?

Yes, it opened to the general public on February 20, after running for airport staff only from December. It currently operates on restricted hours, with full daily service expected in the second half of the year.

How much time does it save?

It cuts the trip between the train station and the terminals from about twenty minutes by bus to roughly six. The free shuttle buses still run alongside it for now.

What rail line does it connect to?

It links the airport terminals to the Airport-Guarulhos station on Line 13-Jade, a CPTM commuter rail line. From there, passengers can ride toward central São Paulo and the wider metro network.

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