After authorization from SAC (Civil Aviation Secretariat), the Ministry of Ports and Airports, the City of Araguaína will begin the installation of the PAPI (Precision Approach Path Indicator) and awaits new authorization from the Federal Government to install the EPTA, other equipment radio that assists in aircraft navigation.
For each service front completed in the airport works, analysis and approval by SAC is required. Still in November 2023, the city hall sent all the documentation necessary for the installation of the equipment to the federal agency. The response with authorization was given in January and the bidding company is now ready to start the installation. The investment in this stage will be R$1,3 million.
The equipment implementation and testing phase, in addition to SAC analysis and approval, is expected to last approximately 90 days.
“We are working hard so that, in the first half of the year, the airport is ready to receive new aircraft. The Azul company has already expressed interest in operating in the city in August this year”, informs Mayor Wagner Rodrigues.
According to Frederico Prado, Secretary of Infrastructure, the airport work has criteria and specificities that make the process more complex than paving, for example.
“Regulatory bodies are extremely demanding and Brazilian aviation is very safe thanks to this high level of demand. Furthermore, the number of professionals specialized in this area of Commercial Civil Aviation is very limited and the Municipality has made efforts to seek external to obtain the best possible result”, explains the secretary.
Next stages
The Master Plan, another necessary stage to enable the airport to receive larger aircraft, has already been completed and the projects for new internal structures are in the preparation phase.
The planning covers a new parking lot, a new area for general aviation hangars, which includes a new Taxiway (runway strip) and a turning area, in addition to strengthening the paving runway. There will also be the restructuring and expansion of the enger terminal to more than 2 thousand square meters and renovation of the fire protection section.
The airport works also include the duplication of Avenida Dionísio Farias, in the neighborhood of Fátima, the main road that gives access to the airport from BR-153.
Services completed
Araguaína City Council has already completed the drainage, cleaning of the airport's security area with the removal and pruning of trees, leveling the runway thresholds and lateral plant protection with the planting of grass.
The Araguaína Airport qualification and modernization project includes an investment of around R$40 million from an agreement with the Federal Government, via SAC. In addition, the city hall is contributing R$2,5 million in investments with its own resources to purchase part of the equipment and adaptation actions.
Currently, the airport offers the Araguaína-Brasília and Brasília-Araguaína route, with aredo turboprop planes three times a week. When the installation of equipment that aids navigation is completed, the Municipality will be able to receive larger planes.
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Source: City Hall of Araguaina
