São Paulo/Guarulhos International Airport
international airport serving São Paulo
São Paulo/Guarulhos–Governor André Franco Montoro International Airport (IATA: GRU, ICAO: SBGR), commonly known as São Paulo/Guarulhos International Airport, is the primary international airport serving São Paulo, located in the municipality of Guarulhos, in the state of São Paulo. It is the largest airport in Brazil and Latin America, and one of the 50 busiest in the world by passenger traffic. It is popularly known locally as either Cumbica Airport, after the district where it is located and the Brazilian Air Force base that exists at the Guarulhos Airport, after the municipality where it is located. Since 28 November 2001, the airport has been named after André Franco Montoro (1916–1999), former Governor of São Paulo state. The airport was rebranded as GRU Airport in 2012.
The airport is the busiest in Brazil in terms of transported passengers, aircraft operations, and cargo handled. Guarulhos has slot restrictions, operating with a maximum of 45 operations/hour and being one of the five airports with such restrictions in Brazil (the others are São Paulo-Congonhas, Brasília, Belo Horizonte-Pampulha and Rio de Janeiro-Santos Dumont).
Since 2012, the airport has been operated by a consortium composed of Invepar S/A, Airports Company South Africa, and Infraero. Some of its facilities are shared with the São Paulo Air Force Base of the Brazilian Air Force.
In 2017, it was considered by the company OAG the second best in punctuality in the world and first in Latin America, a position above that achieved in the previous year.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “São Paulo/Guarulhos International Airport” is international airport serving São Paulo. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Paulo, Guarulhos and International, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “international airport serving São Paulo” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q385406. VIAF identifies the subject as 139676906. The Library of Congress control number is n89147210. Authority coordinates are -23.436, -46.473. 3 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2001, 1916, 1999 and 2012.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “São Paulo/Guarulhos International Airport”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow São Paulo/Guarulhos International Airport primary sources, São Paulo/Guarulhos International Airport archive and Paulo research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “São Paulo/Guarulhos International Airport”?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “São Paulo/Guarulhos International Airport” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.