Hundreds of air passengers across Brazil faced an arduous travel day on Thursday, January 22, as a fresh wave of delays and cancellations rippled through some of the country’s busiest airports.

Real-time tracking data showed at least 15 flights canceled and 188 delayed across hubs including São Paulo, Guarulhos, Belo Horizonte’s Tancredo Neves, Recife and others, disrupting operations for carriers ranging from Brazilian giants Gol and Azul to international players such as Qantas and their regional partners.

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Wave of Disruptions Hits Brazil’s Key Hubs

The latest operational crunch unfolded across a dense domestic and regional network at the height of Brazil’s southern summer, when leisure traffic, business travel and international connections combine to push airport infrastructure to its limits. At São Paulo’s downtown Congonhas Airport and Guarulhos International, as well as Belo Horizonte’s Tancredo Neves and Recife’s Gilberto Freyre, airlines spent much of the morning and early afternoon juggling crew, equipment and gate space as delays stacked up.

While the total number of affected flights on January 22 was lower than several major disruption events seen in recent months, the impact on passengers was still pronounced. Many of the 15 canceled flights were high-demand domestic legs that form part of longer itineraries linking secondary Brazilian cities with long-haul services to North America, Europe and Australia. In practical terms, a single cancellation on a São Paulo or Belo Horizonte feeder flight can cause missed connections that strand travelers far from their final destination.

At Guarulhos, which handles a large share of the country’s intercontinental operations, the latest disruption comes on the heels of a difficult holiday season. Recent performance data for December 2025 documented a sharp rise in cancellations and a deterioration in on-time performance tied to weather and peak-season congestion, trends that have continued to challenge airlines and ground handlers into early 2026.

Qantas Connections Caught in the Crossfire

Although the disruption was most visible in Brazil’s domestic market, international carriers were not immune. Qantas, which relies on Brazilian partners and multi-leg itineraries to funnel passengers between Australia, South America and onward destinations, saw several of its customers caught up in the delays at Guarulhos and connecting airports.

In many cases, the issue was not a direct Qantas flight being canceled, but rather tight connection windows collapsing as domestic legs operated by partners such as LATAM, Gol or Azul departed late from Congonhas, Santos Dumont, Confins or Recife. For Australian and Asia-Pacific travelers on complex routings, even a 60 to 90 minute delay on a Brazilian domestic segment can mean a missed overnight departure back across the Pacific or to Europe.

Travel agents and airline liaison teams reported a familiar pattern: passengers who had cleared immigration and security at Guarulhos only to discover their onward flights were already boarding, re-timed, or in some cases fully closed. With aircraft running close to capacity in high season, finding same-day alternatives was difficult, pushing some travelers into forced overnight stays near the airport.

Gol, Azul and LATAM Under Pressure Again

The three dominant players in Brazil’s domestic market, Gol Linhas Aéreas, Azul Brazilian Airlines and LATAM Brasil, once again found themselves at the heart of a nationwide scheduling crunch. Flight data and previous days’ disruption reports show the trio have been grappling with a mixture of weather volatility, infrastructure constraints and tight crew rosters since the start of the year, especially at São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro airports.

Just days earlier, on January 20, a separate surge of delays and cancellations across São Paulo–Congonhas and Rio de Janeiro’s Galeão airport disrupted nearly 150 departures and stranded thousands of travelers, with LATAM and Gol taking the brunt of the fallout. That incident followed December’s cyclone-driven blackout in São Paulo that forced the cancellation of almost 400 flights across the city’s airports, highlighting how vulnerable Brazil’s aviation system can be to compound shocks.

Within that context, Thursday’s 15 cancellations and 188 delays are part of a broader pattern rather than a one-off anomaly. Labor tensions, including a heightened strike posture by pilots and cabin crew unions covering Gol and Azul at the end of 2025, have further tightened operating margins. Even in the absence of an all-out work stoppage, modest staffing frictions can translate quickly into rolling delays when aircraft and crews are already stretched thin by dense summer schedules.

Congonhas and Guarulhos: A Dual Bottleneck for São Paulo

São Paulo’s twin-airport system has long been both an asset and a vulnerability for Brazilian aviation. Congonhas, located close to the city center, handles an intense bank of domestic flights that connect business travelers and regional passengers into the wider network. Guarulhos, on the northeastern outskirts, serves as the primary international gateway for long-haul services to Europe, North America, Africa and parts of Asia and Oceania.

The January 22 disruption once again exposed how delays and cancellations at one airport can rapidly cascade through the other. When Congonhas departures to Belo Horizonte, Brasília or regional centers run late, the knock-on effect is felt at Guarulhos as passengers miss their connecting windows for international flights or arrive out of sequence for onward domestic legs. Conversely, late-arriving widebodies at Guarulhos can leave aircraft out of position for short-haul rotations that start or end in the downtown airport.

Guarulhos has already been under scrutiny for its recent operational performance. In December, the airport recorded a jump in cancellations and a deterioration in on-time performance, attributed to adverse weather and surging holiday traffic. Efforts to improve runway utilization, de-icing capacity and gate management have continued into January, but the latest statistics underscore that the system remains fragile under sustained high demand.

Belo Horizonte, Recife and Secondary Hubs Feel the Strain

While São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro dominate headlines, Thursday’s disruption stretched well beyond Brazil’s two largest metropolitan areas. Belo Horizonte’s Tancredo Neves International Airport and Recife’s Gilberto Freyre International, both key nodes in domestic and regional networks, also reported cancellations and delays that rippled through the system.

From Belo Horizonte, airlines operate high-frequency shuttles to São Paulo, Brasília, Rio and northeastern leisure destinations. When one or two of these legs are canceled outright, the immediate impact is not just on local passengers but also on travelers who rely on Confins as a connecting point between smaller cities and Brazil’s largest hubs. The same logic applies in Recife, which has become an important bridge between the northeast and major southern and southeastern airports, as well as a launch point for regional routes.

On Thursday, several of the canceled flights were reported to be shorter domestic sectors that nevertheless play a critical role in feeding larger aircraft. Industry analysts note that carriers sometimes choose to trim these thinner legs first when they anticipate crew or airspace bottlenecks, aiming to preserve capacity on trunk routes while accepting heavier disruption on secondary pairings.

Passengers Confront Long Queues and Murky Information

For travelers, the operational nuances matter less than the immediate reality of packed terminals, shifting departure times and limited options. At Congonhas and Guarulhos, passengers reported long queues at check-in counters and customer service desks from early morning, with many waiting for rebooking assistance or clarification on whether their flights would operate.

Communication has been a recurring weak point during Brazil’s recent waves of flight disruptions. While airlines have invested heavily in apps and digital notifications, passengers still frequently complain of last-minute changes and contradictory information between online platforms and airport staff. When delays push into multiple hours, issues such as access to food, water and rest areas become acute, particularly for families traveling with children or older passengers with limited mobility.

Consumer advocates stress that Brazilian regulations impose clear obligations on airlines when flights are significantly delayed or canceled, including the provision of meal vouchers, communication support and, in longer disruptions, accommodation. Yet in practice, the speed and consistency with which these rights are honored can vary widely between carriers and airports, especially during multi-day or multi-airport events when resources are stretched thin.

Under Brazilian aviation rules, passengers whose flights are delayed or canceled are entitled to a sliding scale of assistance based on the length and cause of the disruption. For delays exceeding two hours, airlines are required to provide communication support, such as internet access or phone calls. As the delay grows, obligations progress to include meals, and eventually lodging and transfers for overnight disruptions, particularly when the problem is attributable to the airline’s operations rather than extraordinary circumstances like severe weather or airport closures.

Passengers affected by Thursday’s disruptions who missed connections or arrived significantly later than scheduled may also be eligible to seek financial compensation, depending on the specific facts of each case. Specialized claims firms and legal services, as well as Brazil’s small-claims court system, have increasingly been used by passengers to pursue redress for severe delays, cancellations and denied boarding incidents. However, the process can be time-consuming, and outcomes are not guaranteed.

Travel experts recommend several practical measures for those transiting Brazil during this volatile period. Building extra connection time into itineraries that involve airport changes within São Paulo, for example between Congonhas and Guarulhos, can provide a buffer against road traffic and minor schedule slips. Where possible, choosing through-tickets on a single carrier or alliance, rather than separate point-to-point bookings, can also improve the odds of being reprotected on the next available flight if something goes wrong.

Outlook for Brazil’s Summer Travel Season

The latest round of disruptions comes at a sensitive moment for Brazil’s aviation industry. Carriers are still rebuilding balance sheets after the pandemic years, while simultaneously facing higher fuel and labor costs and an operating environment marked by more frequent extreme-weather events. Congested airspace near São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, combined with infrastructure constraints at airports that are operating near capacity during peak hours, leave little margin for error.

Airlines and airport operators have signaled plans to strengthen contingency planning and improve passenger communication ahead of the peak Carnival and Easter travel periods. That includes closer coordination with air traffic control, additional standby crews where financially feasible, and more conservative scheduling in vulnerable time bands that have historically suffered from knock-on delays. Some carriers are also reviewing their policies around minimum connection times at key hubs in a bid to reduce missed connections.

For now, though, Thursday’s tally of 15 cancellations and 188 delays is another reminder to both domestic and international travelers that flying in Brazil this season carries a heightened risk of disruption. Whether heading from Recife to São Paulo, connecting through Belo Horizonte to Rio, or piecing together a complex journey that ultimately links into Qantas or other long-haul operators, passengers may need to plan with a wider margin of error and a greater tolerance for uncertainty than in calmer years.