Tancredo Neves International Airport

Tancredo Neves International Airport at Confins serves Belo Horizonte, the capital of Minas Gerais and Brazil's third-largest metropolitan area with roughly 6M residents. Minas Gerais is Brazil's mining heartland — the state's name means 'general mines' and it accounts for a commanding share of Brazilian iron ore, niobium, and gold output — and Belo Horizonte is the commercial gateway to Vale's and AngloAmerican's operations as well as to the UNESCO-listed historic towns of Ouro Preto, Tiradentes, and Diamantina. The airport's name commemorates the Minas-born politician elected Brazil's first post-dictatorship civilian president in 1985, who died before taking office. A single 3,600 m (11,811 ft) asphalt runway and a modernized two-terminal complex support approximately 73 routes to 58 destinations via 9 airlines — one of the most diverse route portfolios among Brazilian secondary hubs. Azul Linhas Aéreas operates CNF as a major hub, using it to feed its regional E-Jet and ATR network; GOL and LATAM maintain substantial operations. International service reaches Lisbon (TAP), Panama (Copa), Buenos Aires (LATAM), Miami and Orlando (seasonal, American/LATAM), and Cabo Verde. The airport replaced the older Pampulha Airport (PLU), which now handles only general aviation and select regional turboprop services. CNF sits approximately 40 km north of Belo Horizonte in the municipality of Confins at an elevation of 830 m (2,721 ft). It was constructed in the 1980s as a replacement for the congested lakefront Pampulha facility; traffic migrated progressively after a 2005 federal mandate. A concession transferred operations to BH Airport (a CCR-Zurich Airport consortium) in 2014. Passenger traffic reached approximately 8M in 2023.