- Major Brazilian airports faced massive cancellations and delays due to drone activity and severe weather disruptions.
- A three-hour shutdown at Guarulhos diverted 32 flights during the peak Carnival travel season.
- Regulatory authority ANAC mandates that airlines provide updates every 30 minutes to affected passengers.
(SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL) — Brazil’s major airports absorbed a fresh wave of cancellations, delays and occasional ground stops that disrupted domestic and international connections through São Paulo-Guarulhos, Brasília, Rio de Janeiro-Galeão and São Paulo-Congonhas.
The sharpest recent episode came during a Carnival-period disruption at Guarulhos, where seven drones forced a shutdown for roughly three hours on Carnival Sunday. Brazil’s civil aviation authority, ANAC, reported 32 flights diverted and 8 cancelled.
Airlines logged immediate operational damage. LATAM reported 22 affected operations, Gol diverted 4 flights, and Azul cancelled 3.
Diversions reached beyond Brazil’s domestic network. An Emirates Airbus A380 and a Qatar Airways Boeing 777 were among the aircraft rerouted to Rio de Janeiro, Campinas, Belo Horizonte and Curitiba.
Another disruption wave hit on February 15, 2026, when Guarulhos, Brasília and Galeão combined for 25 cancellations and 166 delays in a single day. The same day, Congonhas reported 3 cancellations and 26 delays.
Guarulhos alone accounted for a large share of that strain. LATAM cancelled 14 departures there, and GOL cancelled 6 flights.
That day’s breakdown differed from the drone shutdown, but the effect on passengers was similar. Severe weather and staffing and operational pressure during the Carnaval travel surge drove the disruption across the three main hubs.
The pattern has put Guarulhos and Brasília in focus because both airports handle dense flows of domestic and international connections. Tight onward schedules leave little room to recover when a single inbound delay pushes a traveler past a check-in cutoff or boarding window.
Domestic-to-international itineraries face the highest rebooking risk when disruption spreads across multiple airports at once. A missed domestic leg into Guarulhos or Brasília can also upend a long-haul departure the same day.
Secondary airports can offer an escape valve when the main hubs seize up. Campinas-Viracopos and Belo Horizonte-Confins stand out as alternatives when schedules collapse or reroutes begin piling up.
Passengers caught in a delay or cancellation have a defined information right under ANAC rules. Airlines must keep travelers informed every 30 minutes, and ANAC can be reached at 163 for complaints and guidance.
ANAC also requires airlines to provide material assistance depending on the length of the delay and the circumstances of the cancellation. Carriers must communicate flight disruptions promptly.
The repeated shutdowns tied to unauthorized drones near Guarulhos have also drawn renewed attention to the regulatory side of airport operations. Brazil’s drone rules remain under review after those episodes.
The operational picture across Brazil’s largest airports shows how quickly one disruption can spill across the network. A drone-related closure at Guarulhos diverted widebody international aircraft, while weather and staffing pressure on February 15, 2026 produced cancellations and delays across Guarulhos, Brasília, Galeão and Congonhas.
Those episodes left the country’s busiest gateways coping with the same problem from different directions: aircraft out of position, connections broken, and airport schedules stretched by peak holiday demand. During Carnaval, even a few hours of interruption at Guarulhos proved enough to send aircraft and passengers toward Rio de Janeiro, Campinas, Belo Horizonte and Curitiba.
Brazil’s largest hubs remain vulnerable during peak periods because they concentrate both domestic feeder traffic and international departures in the same banks of flights. When cancellations start at Guarulhos or Brasília, the effect reaches far beyond one terminal and quickly spreads through the rest of the day’s schedule.
