Brazil: Pro-Bolsonaro demonstrations blocked access to airports

Demonstrations against the results of last Sunday’s elections, the closest in history with a difference of about 2 million votes between the candidates, swept the country and affected aviation at two major airports.

With the defeat of Jair Bolsonaro, part of his supporters took to the country’s highways and carried out small blockades, which added up to three hundred points throughout Brazil, causing disruptions in the road network.

One of them was concentrated on MG-10, at the access to the international airport of Belo Horizonte, in Confins. The protesters closed the highway in the direction of BH around 18h, but soon after took both directions at the time of the Administrative City.

As reported by our partner site Aeroin, the traffic jam reached 3 kilometers and drivers reported being stuck for almost 2 hours. Alternative routes through Santa Luzia were also slow because they have less road capacity and other protests along the way, so some passengers missed flights.

But the most serious situation occurred in Guarulhos, on Rodovia Hélio Smidt, the only access to the International Airport, the largest and most important in the country.

There, protesters stopped the highway in both directions at the height of the Professor Jossei Toda viaduct, where at the top is Monteiro Lobato Avenue, which connects the Cumbica neighborhood with the city center, and at the bottom is the traffic on the Helio Smidt highway, the only access to the airport.

The slowdown was already noticeable on Rodovia Ayrton Senna and Via Dutra, which connect the capital to Hélio Smidt. Passengers reported being stranded for up to 3 hours and many travelers had to walk to the terminal to avoid missing their flight.

Without access, not only the passengers could not make it, but also the flight crew and other airline employees.

LATAM cancelled a flight to Vitória, another to Brasilia and another to Salvador, while United Airlines cancelled all its flights in Guarulhos to Houston, Chicago and New York (Newark), since the aircraft did not arrive in Brazil, precisely because of the protests, totaling 9 flights cancelled during the night. The Chicago flight even turned around, as shown here.

An American Airlines flight to Miami was delayed for 14 hours, according to FlightRadar24, also due to problems with the arrival of the crew. TAP had two flights, to Porto and Lisbon, arrive 3 hours late.

LATAM reported that «due to the blockage of some important routes in Brazil, our operation may be affected,» asking passengers to arrive earlier at airports. The company also informed that it would deal on a case-by-case basis with customers who have been harmed and affected by the protests.