Porto Alegre, still under water, recovers commercial flights from military base

The Brazilian city of Porto Alegrewhich takes three weeks flooded Due to the unprecedented flooding of the Guaíba River, this Monday it recovered air connection through commercial flights with the start of operations of a military base.

The first commercial flight arrived this Monday at the Canoas air base, located in the metropolitan area of ​​Porto Alegre and which in the coming months will become the closest air terminal to Porto Alegre, the most important city in southern Brazil.

The Porto Alegre airport has been closed since it was invaded by water on May 3 due to floods that have caused at least 170 deaths in southern Brazil.

Although the Canoas base had already been used to receive humanitarian aid shipments, it has now been adapted to receive commercial flights.

Passengers have to board and disembark at a shopping center located 3 kilometers from the base, from where they are transported by bus.

Fraport, the concessionaire responsible for the Salgado Filho International Airport in Porto Alegre and a subsidiary of the Frankfurt airport, is responsible for the operation.

The Canoas commercial service debuted with the arrival of a Latam flight from the Congonhas airport in São Paulo, a route on which this airline will operate five weekly flights.

Starting next Saturday, the Azul airline will carry out flights from the city of Campinas, while GOL will do so from Guarulhos, the international airport of São Paulo.

The tragic floods that hit several towns in southern Brazil for a month left the Salgado Filho international airport flooded and inoperative.

In recent weeks, authorities have increased routes to airports in other nearby cities.

Fraport stated that there is still no date for the reopening of the Salgado Filho airport since, with its runways and terminal affected by water, it needs to undergo an inspection and repair the damage before it can return to normal.

More than 2 million people are affected by the floods, which caused the death of 169 people and forced the displacement of 630,000, while another 56 remain missing.