This Friday, Rio de Janeiro’s airspace experienced an unusual day with the arrival of British fighters and temporary closures of airports. A Royal Air Force Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft declared an emergency near the Brazilian coast while flying over the Atlantic. According to reports, the three fighters were en route to or from the Malvinas (Falkland) Islands and encountered difficulties en route, which prompted their request to land at Galeão airport.
According to our partner AEROIN, the fighters were accompanied by an Airbus A330-200 MRTT (Voyager KC3) and an Atlas C1 (Airbus A400M), with registration numbers ZZ334 and ZM417, respectively. Both aircraft, equipped for in-flight refueling, were probably escorting the Typhoons to supply them with fuel during the oceanic transfer.
The five RAF aircraft landed at Galeão International Airport at around 4 p.m., with the Typhoon fighters arriving first, being immediately escorted by airfield fire trucks. After landing, the aircraft were parked in the area of the Galeão Military Air Base.
Due to the emergency declared by the British fighters, Galeão International Airport was partially closed. At the same time, an Embraer E195-E1 of Azul airline had problems at Santos Dumont Airport, stalling on the runway and blocking operations at this terminal. The coincidence of both incidents generated delays and forced several planes to orbit waiting to land, while others waited on the apron and taxiways to take off, causing a brief “congestion” in Rio de Janeiro’s airspace.
At around 16:20, operations at Galeão and Santos Dumont began to normalize. This event marked the first time that Typhoon fighters landed in Brazil, an event that was recorded live by the cameras of the Aviation TV channel:
