Watching São Paulo Guarulhos live
South America's busiest airport: two parallel runways on the plateau north-east of the biggest city in the hemisphere.
The layout
Guarulhos sits on a plateau about 25 kilometres north-east of central São Paulo, at 2,461 feet. Two parallel runways run east to west, close together: 10L/28R, the longer of the pair at 3,700 metres, and 10R/28L beside it (they were 09/27 until the drift of the magnetic pole earned them new numbers). Because they are so close, they are operated as a dependent pair rather than two independent runways. The three terminals stand on the north side, Terminal 3 the newest, built for the international traffic, and the cargo terminal, one of the largest in the region, to the east.
The land falls away steeply to the south of the field, and the city's endless blocks begin almost at the fence.
How the flow works
Landings on the 28s, from the east, are the usual configuration, with departures to the west turning out over the city. When the wind swings the field runs on the 10s, with arrivals descending over the Serra da Cantareira to the north-west. With the runways so close, arrivals take one runway and departures the other, and the controllers work the pair as a single stream.
The summer, from November to March, brings a thunderstorm most late afternoons, and low cloud and fog in the winter mornings can hold arrivals until it lifts; watch the sky icon on the card.
What to watch for
LATAM's home base gives the field its colour: A320s and A321s on the domestic trunks to Rio, Brasília and Porto Alegre, 777s and 787s to Europe and the United States, with Gol's 737s and Azul's Embraers and A320s alongside. The international traffic arrives from Europe in a morning wave after the overnight flights and departs again in the evening; the North American flights come and go through the night.
The São Paulo to Rio de Janeiro shuttle, most of it from Congonhas in the city rather than here, is one of the busiest routes in the world; from Guarulhos the domestic banks still fill the aprons at breakfast and again at dusk.
More airports
- LAXLos Angeles International AirportFour parallel runways beside the Pacific, and the busiest airport on the US west coast.
- ORDChicago O'Hare International AirportEight runways, two giant hubs, and weather that keeps everyone on their toes.
- ATLHartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International AirportThe busiest airport on Earth: five parallel runways and an arrival every minute.
- DXBDubai International AirportA380s all day at the busiest international hub in the world.
- LHRLondon Heathrow AirportTwo runways running flat out, Terminal 5 at the west end.
- JFKJohn F. Kennedy International AirportCrossing runway pairs on Jamaica Bay, the AirTrain circling the terminals.
- SANSan Diego International AirportOne runway between the bay and downtown, and the steepest approach in the country.
- AMSAmsterdam Airport SchipholSix runways four metres below sea level, and a fifteen-minute taxi to the Polderbaan.
- DFWDallas/Fort Worth International AirportSeven runways on a site the size of Manhattan, Skylink threading the half-moon terminals.
- HNDTokyo Haneda AirportAsia's busiest airport: four runways on reclaimed land in Tokyo Bay, one standing on piers.
- BKKSuvarnabhumi AirportThree parallel runways around one vast terminal on the marsh east of the city.
- GRUSão Paulo/Guarulhos International AirportSouth America's busiest airport: two parallel runways on the plateau north-east of the biggest city in the hemisphere.
- SYDSydney Kingsford Smith AirportAustralia's busiest airport: two parallel runways reaching out into Botany Bay, and a third across them.
- SINSingapore Changi AirportThree parallel runways on reclaimed land at the eastern tip of the island, and the best-run hub in the world.
- HKGHong Kong International AirportThree parallel runways on an island built for the purpose, between the sea and the mountains of Lantau.