Eduardo Gomes International Airport

Eduardo Gomes International Airport (MAO) is the principal aviation gateway to the Brazilian Amazon and by far the largest airport in northern Brazil. Located in the Tarumã district 14 km (9 mi) north of central Manaus at 264 ft (80 m) elevation, the airport was strategically sited on firm, flood-free ground above the floodplain of the Rio Negro. A single 8,858-ft (2,700-m) asphalt runway 11/29 has handled the most varied widebody traffic of any airport in Brazil's interior - from the Boeing 747-400F to the Airbus A380 on diversions. MAO serves 49 routes to 34 destinations on 12 airlines (2026), with passenger service anchored by LATAM, GOL, Azul and Voepass connecting Manaus to all major Brazilian cities plus international flights to Panama City (Copa), Bogotá, Miami and Lisbon. Crucially, MAO is one of the most important cargo airports in the Americas: the Manaus Free Trade Zone (Zona Franca de Manaus) makes the city Brazil's largest electronics-manufacturing and motorcycle-assembly cluster, and the airport handles widebody freighter operations for FedEx, UPS, LATAM Cargo, Atlas Air and Sideral Air Cargo - outbound manufactured goods and inbound components on an almost industrial scale. The airport is operated under concession by Vinci Airports since 2022. Although the current terminal dates to 1976, a multi-phase modernisation is re-laying the apron, extending jet bridges and expanding international capacity; a 2024 master plan reserves land for a parallel runway to cope with projected Amazon ecotourism and LATAM Cargo growth. MAO is named after aviation pioneer Brigadeiro Eduardo Gomes, who championed Amazonian air links in the 1940s. Passenger volume typically runs 3.5 million per year, with cargo throughput that regularly places MAO among Brazil's top five cargo airports despite its relatively modest population base. The airport also plays a role in scientific logistics: INPA, FIOCRUZ and WWF research teams use MAO as the staging point for field stations deep in the Amazonian interior, many reachable only by float-plane or helicopter onward from the airport's general-aviation apron.