Getting to the Summer Olympics

Traveling to Brazil for the Rio games? We’ve got the official guidelines for all operations to the 2016 Summer Olympics. 

The much-anticipated Rio Olympics get underway this August with the opening ceremony taking place on August 5 and the games running until the 21st. The Brazilian cities due to host the games are Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, the Brazilian capital Brasília, Manaus, Salvador, and São Paulo. The 2016 Paralympics will then take place from September 7-18. Here is the information you need.

Visa Regulation – Passengers 

The Brazilian government has decided to waive VISA requirements of Australian, Canadian, American, and Japanese citizens when traveling to Brazil as tourists this is valid during the period from June 1st to September 18th, 2016, without the possibility of extension.
All other nationalities need to check the visa necessity with the Brazilian Embassy in their home country, depending on the bilateral agreement between those countries.

Visa Regulation – Crew

Cockpit crew (PIC and SIC) do not need a visa to enter Brazil when entering/ leaving on Gendec but must have a valid license and medical certificate available to show immigrations.
Federal Police Authority issues the special permit upon arrival and usually it is valid for up to 10 days.
Please note that flight attendants, mechanics, and engineers may require a visa depending on their nationality. It is not possible to obtain a visa upon arrival.

Current Requirements and Special Rules for the Olympics 

• Landing permit for international flights and overflights:
  A permit is required if the aircraft will land in only one airport in Brazil, or will only overfly the Country. Usually, it takes about two hours to receive the clearance from ANAC after filing the official request with all the correct information/documentation.
• Landing permit for international flight with domestic sectors:
  A permit is also needed if the aircraft will land in multiple locations in Brazil. Usually, it takes about 24hrs – 72 hrs* to receive the clearance from ANAC after filing the official request with all the correct information/documentation.
• We strongly recommend to submit the permit request we in advance as the is a huge amount of request expected close to the start of the 2016 Olympics and Paralympics.

* During the Olympics 2016, we expect a high demand for permits and revisions which may affect the response time of the CAA.

Flight Plans

The flight plan must be filed at least 1:30 hours before the ETD and the AIS room will only accept it if the airport fees have been paid. It is mandatory to insert the AVANAC code, PBN, slot code, Operator, etc.

Slots and PPRs 

To obtain a slot, it is necessary to have the AVANAC permit approval, and a slot authorization letter signed by the operator.

Rio de Janeiro (SBGL) will be coordinated but at this point, ANAC is working on it for commercial airlines only. CGNA will only release the slots for GA after this process is finalized.
We expect the slot distribution as follows:
– 80% of the slots will be for commercial airlines
– 10% for VIPs (determined by the Government and Committee)
– 10% for GA

This rule will change for the opening ceremony (2 days earlier / 2 later) and final (2 days earlier / 2 later):
– 70% of the slots will be for commercial airlines
– 15% for VIPs (determined by the Government and Committee)
– 15% for GA

To apply for slots we require the following documents:
– valid aircraft documents (CoI, CoR, CoA, CoA renewal) and crew documents (License and medical and passport copy), authorization letter
– Once all documents are in order we can apply for the ANAC permit
– Once the permit is approved, we will send the ANAC permit to CGNA to have the ACFT on their system
– When CGNA release the slots, we will be able to apply for them on the operator´s behalf