Rio de Janeiro/Galeão International Airport
international airport in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Rio de Janeiro/Galeão–Antonio Carlos Jobim International Airport (IATA: GIG, ICAO: SBGL), popularly known by its original name Galeão International Airport, is the main international airport serving Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The airport was originally named after the neighborhood of Galeão: Praia do Galeão (Galleon Beach) is located in front of the original passenger terminal (the present passenger terminal of the Brazilian Air Force). This beach is the location where the galleon Padre Eterno was built in 1663. On 5 January 1999 the name was changed adding a tribute to the Brazilian musician Antonio Carlos Jobim. Galeão Airport is explicitly mentioned in his composition Samba do Avião.
Since 30 March 2026 the facility is jointly managed by the concessionary RioGaleão (formed by Infraero, Changi Airport Group, and Vinci) and the winner of the reconcession bidding process AENA.
Some of its facilities are shared with the Galeão Air Force Base of the Brazilian Air Force.
History
On 10 May 1923, a School of Naval Aviation was established near Galeão beach on Governador Island. On 22 May 1941, with the creation of the Brazilian Air Force Ministry, the school became the Galeão Air Force Base; a terminal and hangars were built and the runway extended. Those buildings still exist and Galeão Air Force Base is still active. When Brazil declared war against the Axis on 22 August 1942, the aerodrome began to be used intensely by the Allies for military operations related to World War II.
At the end of the war, Santos Dumont Airport was unable to handle the increased tonnage of aircraft flying on international routes and number of passengers.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Rio de Janeiro/Galeão International Airport” as international airport in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as international airport in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q733998. Authority coordinates are -22.810, -43.251. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1663, 1999, 2026 and 1923.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. 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
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Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Rio de Janeiro/Galeão 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.