Brazilian air travel is once again under strain as a fresh wave of cancellations and delays hits major hubs in the busy pre Carnival period. On the latest day of disruption, more than 20 flights were cancelled across the domestic and regional networks of LATAM Brasil, GOL Linhas Aéreas, Azul Linhas Aéreas and other carriers, affecting core routes that link São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Curitiba, Brasília, Porto Seguro and several resort and business destinations. Although operations have not collapsed, the scale and spread of irregularities are forcing thousands of travelers to adjust itineraries, accept rebookings, or in the worst cases, abandon plans entirely.
What Happened: Another Day of Widespread Disruption
The newest round of disruptions in Brazil’s skies reflects a pattern that has been building since late 2025. After a turbulent holiday season marked by rolling delays and pockets of mass cancellations, airlines entered early 2026 with networks already stretched by intense demand and tight aircraft utilization. Industry trackers and aviation outlets report that the most recent operational crunch involved more than 20 cancellations clustered across Brazil’s busiest corridors, on top of dozens of delayed departures that rippled through the day.
While exact totals fluctuated as airlines reworked schedules, the common thread was a concentration of problems at São Paulo’s Guarulhos and Congonhas airports, Rio de Janeiro’s Galeão and Santos Dumont, and the key southern and northeastern nodes of Curitiba, Brasília, Salvador and Porto Seguro. These hubs function as the backbone of Brazil’s domestic network, so any instability there quickly cascades into knock on effects across secondary cities and international connections.
The cancellations and heavy delays have not been limited to one carrier. LATAM Brasil and GOL, the country’s two largest domestic operators, have again borne a large share of schedule changes, with Azul also impacted despite having bulked up capacity for Carnival period travel. International partners, including American Airlines and Delta, have at times removed individual services to and from Brazil, further constraining options for travelers relying on long haul connections to North America and beyond.
Key Routes and Cities Most Affected
The latest disruptions have hit Brazil’s core air corridors, particularly shuttle style routes between São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Brasília. These trunk lines are heavily used by business travelers, government officials and connecting passengers, and any reduction in frequencies or on time performance has an outsized impact on the broader network. In the most recent wave of cancellations, flights linking São Paulo to Rio de Janeiro, Curitiba and Brasília were among the first to be cut or rescheduled, as airlines attempted to consolidate loads and recover punctuality on remaining services.
Leisure focused routes have also suffered, especially those connecting major cities to coastal hotspots and resort areas. Porto Seguro, in Bahia, stands out as one of the most affected holiday destinations, with cancellations from São Paulo and Rio producing long queues at rebooking desks as families and tour groups sought alternatives. Other northeastern gateways, such as Salvador and Recife, have seen intermittent disruption as carriers redeployed aircraft and crews to cover higher yielding trunk routes.
International links have not been spared entirely. In recent irregular operations, flights between Brazil and neighboring Argentina, particularly services involving São Paulo and Rio to Buenos Aires, have recorded notable delays and a small number of cancellations. Even when airlines keep long haul flights to North America and Europe largely intact, disruptions on domestic feeder routes can cause passengers to misconnect, leading to missed vacations, rushed hotel changes and overnight layovers far from their intended destination.
Which Airlines Are Involved: LATAM, GOL, Azul and Partners
The present wave of disruption is not the result of a single carrier wide failure but rather a convergence of stress across several major airlines. LATAM Brasil, the country’s largest airline by market share, has seen the greatest volume of delays on some of the busiest days, often numbering in the dozens at São Paulo Guarulhos alone. GOL Linhas Aéreas, another key player in the domestic market, has similarly contended with frequent late departures and tactical cancellations, particularly on routes that link São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro with secondary cities like Curitiba and Porto Alegre.
Azul Linhas Aéreas, which operates a distinctive hub and spoke model from Viracopos near Campinas as well as strong presences in Belo Horizonte and Recife, has also been swept up in the turbulence. The airline recently committed to hundreds of additional flights across Brazil for the Carnival period, particularly intensifying operations at São Paulo Congonhas, Salvador, Porto Seguro and Ilhéus to handle the crush of holiday demand. That expanded schedule has added valuable capacity but has also made Azul vulnerable when weather, crew rotations or ground handling issues upset carefully tuned timetables.
International carriers build their Brazil schedules atop this domestic ecosystem, and they too have had to adjust. Recent operational updates from travel industry outlets show American Airlines and Delta Air Lines cancelling a limited number of flights to and from Brazil on days of heavy disruption, with São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro most affected. While the absolute number of long haul cancellations has remained relatively modest compared to domestic irregularities, even a handful of cancelled wide body services can strain rebooking systems and lead to significant inconvenience for travelers with onward international connections.
Why Flights Are Being Cancelled: Weather, Crews and Capacity Squeeze
Behind the headlines of stranded passengers and scrapped flights lies a familiar mix of operational pressures. Seasonal weather remains one of the prime triggers. Brazil’s summer wet season brings thunderstorms, low visibility and heavy rainfall that can slow or temporarily halt operations at busy airports like São Paulo Guarulhos and Rio Galeão. When such conditions recur over several days, delays begin to stack up, aircraft and crews wind up in the wrong cities, and airlines are left with little choice but to cancel selected flights to restore the schedule.
Crew availability has also become a flashpoint. Brazilian airlines have been pushing aircraft and staff hard to cope with surging demand, especially in peak holiday and pre Carnival periods. Tight crew rosters leave minimal slack to absorb disruptions caused by weather, technical checks or late inbound aircraft. Once duty time limits are reached, captains and cabin crew must be replaced or flights cancelled altogether. Airlines have been working to bolster manpower, but training pipelines and regulatory requirements mean solutions cannot be rolled out overnight.
Infrastructure constraints at key airports compound the challenge. São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro airports, while modernized in recent years, are frequently operating near capacity during peak hours. A small spike in traffic, or a temporary runway or taxiway closure due to weather or maintenance, can cause disproportionate knock on effects. Ground handling and baggage systems, already operating under intense pressure across the Brazilian network, then struggle to keep up, prolonging turnaround times and further eroding on time performance.
How This Fits into a Wider Pattern of Brazilian Travel Turmoil
The latest cancellations and delays do not appear in isolation. Since late 2025, Brazil has experienced several notable days of aviation turmoil, when operational strains coalesced into nationwide disruption. In December, industry data pointed to dozens of scrapped departures in a single day, concentrated at major hubs such as Viracopos, Guarulhos and Curitiba. Later that month, travel news outlets highlighted another wave of problems as LATAM, GOL and Azul recorded more than one hundred combined delays and a handful of cancellations, again centered on São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
January 2026 brought further instability, with one particularly difficult day seeing several dozen cancellations and more than one hundred and fifty delays across Brazil’s main gateways. Authorities and airport operators noted that São Paulo and Rio remained the epicenters, while secondary hubs wrestled with knock on effects from incoming flights arriving late or not at all. The most recent episode, in which over 20 flights were cancelled and many more delayed, continues this pattern of recurrent but uneven turbulence rather than signaling a single acute crisis.
For travelers, the distinction is important. Brazil’s aviation system continues to function, and the majority of flights still operate. However, the cumulative effect of multiple days of scattered disruption undermines confidence and makes planning more stressful. Passengers who might once have assumed that a short hop from Curitiba to São Paulo would easily connect with an onward international flight now build in larger buffers, and some leisure travelers are increasingly considering overnight stops at hub cities rather than relying on tight same day itineraries.
Practical Advice for Travelers Caught in the Disruptions
For passengers traveling to, from or within Brazil in the coming days and weeks, awareness and flexibility are crucial. Anyone holding tickets with LATAM Brasil, GOL or Azul on routes involving São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Curitiba, Brasília, Salvador or Porto Seguro should monitor their bookings frequently through airline apps or call centers. Same day schedule changes are more common during this period of operational volatility, and early awareness allows travelers to explore rerouting options before remaining seats disappear.
Building time buffers into itineraries is particularly important. Where possible, travelers connecting from domestic flights to long haul services should avoid razor thin connections, especially through São Paulo Guarulhos and Rio Galeão. Opting for an earlier feeder flight, or even arriving the night before an international departure, can significantly reduce the risk of a missed connection and the complications that follow. For purely domestic trips, a similar philosophy applies: schedule important meetings or events with some margin in case of unexpected delays.
At the airport, communication and documentation become essential tools. If your flight is cancelled or significantly delayed, approach airline staff promptly and request written confirmation of the disruption along with information on rebooking, meal vouchers or accommodation where applicable. Keeping records of receipts for food, transport and lodging can prove valuable when later seeking reimbursements or asserting rights under Brazilian consumer protection rules. Patience also remains a practical asset, as gate agents and call center staff are themselves managing an unusually heavy volume of affected passengers.
What Airlines and Authorities Are Doing to Stabilize Operations
Faced with repeated bouts of travel disruption, Brazilian airlines and aviation authorities are under pressure to demonstrate that concrete steps are being taken to strengthen resilience. Carriers have been adjusting schedules to better match capacity with realistic operating conditions, trimming marginal frequencies on certain days to create slack that can be used when weather or technical issues arise. Azul’s move to publish an expanded yet clearly defined Carnival period timetable, for example, aims to make demand surges more predictable and manageable rather than simply responding reactively.
Airlines are also recalibrating crew planning, seeking to add buffers to rosters and improve the distribution of standby personnel across key bases such as São Paulo, Rio, Brasília and Recife. Investments in predictive maintenance and aircraft availability are another priority, with carriers striving to reduce the number of last minute technical defects that can tip an already stressed schedule into widespread delays.
On the regulatory side, Brazilian aviation authorities and airport operators are working with airlines to refine slot management, runway usage and ground handling coordination during peak periods. The goal is to smooth demand curves throughout the day, avoid bottlenecks at known pressure points and create clearer contingency plans when weather or incidents force temporary reductions in airport capacity. While such structural improvements take time, they are seen as key to preventing recurring episodes of mass cancellations and extended passenger queues.
Looking Ahead: Travel Planning in a Volatile Environment
With Carnival approaching and Brazil’s peak summer travel season underway, there is little expectation that demand will ease in the immediate future. Instead, airlines and airports will be striving to balance record passenger numbers against the operational realities of weather, infrastructure and staffing limits. Travelers should therefore assume that occasional pockets of disruption are likely to persist, particularly on the busiest corridors linking São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Curitiba, Brasília and major resort areas like Porto Seguro, Salvador and Florianópolis.
That does not mean, however, that Brazil should be avoided. For most passengers, flights will still operate more or less as planned, and the vast majority of journeys will reach their destinations with only minor inconveniences. The key change is psychological and procedural: booking earlier, allowing more connection time, staying closely informed about flight status and understanding one’s rights when things go wrong. Travelers who adapt to these new conditions will be better positioned to enjoy Brazil’s cities, beaches and cultural events despite the occasional turbulence in the skies.
As airlines refine their schedules, strengthen crew and fleet planning and collaborate more closely with airport authorities, there is cautious optimism that reliability will improve over the course of 2026. Until then, the latest wave of cancellations serves as a reminder that in Brazil’s dynamic aviation landscape, staying informed and prepared is no longer optional. For those heading to São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Curitiba, Brasília, Porto Seguro and beyond, a bit of extra planning can make the difference between a disrupted journey and a memorable Brazilian adventure.