On June 6, 1967, in response to the growth of air traffic in Brazil, the
Brazilian military government initiated studies concerning the renovation of the airport infrastructure in Brazil. As part of the conclusions of these studies, because of their location, strategic importance, and security issues, new passenger facilities would be constructed in the areas of the
Galeão Air Force Base in Rio de Janeiro and the
São Paulo Air Force Base in São Paulo. In relation to São Paulo, the initial planning of the airport involved three runways and four passenger terminals. However, the first phase of the construction comprising two runways and two terminals started only on August 11, 1980. The airport was officially inaugurated on January 20, 1985. Quickly Guarulhos became the city's primary airport, supplanting
São Paulo–Congonhas Airport. In 1989, the runways were extended and the terminals renovated, enlarged, and had their capacity increased from 7.5 million to 8.25 million passengers/year. The whole complex covered , of which is urbanised area. Construction of the Terminal 3, capable of handling 12 million passengers per year, had been planned since 2001 but due to a myriad of political and economic problems, the actual construction did not begin until 2011. In 2010, the airport served more than 26.8 million passengers, an increase of 24% over 2009 and passenger volumes were 31% in excess of its capacity rated at 20.5 million per year at its present configuration. In order to relieve the acute overcrowding at the Terminals 1 and 2, Infraero announced on May 17, 2011 that the former cargo terminals of the defunct airlines
VASP and
Transbrasil, later used by Federal Agencies, would undergo renovations and adaptations for use as domestic passenger terminals with remote boarding. This new terminal was initially called Terminal 4 (T4). The first phase of the renovations, comprising the former VASP terminal, opened on February 8, 2012, and the second phase, comprising the former Transbrasil terminal, was opened in June 2013. Contrary to what had been announced before, the new terminal will be permanent.
Webjet was the first airline to use the new facility. The new terminal, in its first phase, increased the capacity of the airport in 5.5 million passengers/year and, in the second phase to 8 million passengers/year. In total, Guarulhos would then be able to handle 28.5 million passengers/year. Responding to critiques to the situation of its airports, on May 18, 2011, Infraero released a list evaluating some of its most important airports according to its saturation levels. According to the list, Guarulhos was considered to be critically saturated, operating above 85% of its capacity. Following a decision made on April 26, 2011 by the Federal Government for private companies being granted concessions to explore some
Infraero airports, on February 6, 2012, the administration of the airport was conceded, for 20 years, to the Consortium Invepar–ACSA, also known as GRU Airport, composed by the Brazilian Invepar, an Investments and Funds Society (90%) and the South African
ACSA–Airports Company South Africa (10%). Infraero, the state-run organisation, remains with 49% of the shares of the company incorporated for the administration. On December 2, 2015, the airport's terminals were renumbered. The former Terminal 4 was renumbered Terminal 1; the former terminals 1 and 2, which were wings of a single building, became the new Terminal 2. The Terminal 3 kept its numbering. The new numbering reflects the order by which terminals are reached when one arrives at the airport by the access road, and is expected to be less confusing in the long term. Check-in counters and gates were also renumbered, with the first digit being now the new terminal number. On October 28, 2015, the
National Civil Aviation Agency of Brazil (Anac) authorised
Airbus A380 operations at Guarulhos Airport, effective four days later. The authorisation was granted after extensive works were conducted on the runways and taxiways (including widening runway 09L/27R to ) and special taxiing procedures were established. On November 14, 2015,
Emirates operated a one-time special flight with the A380 on its
Dubai-São Paulo route to commemorate its eight years of operations in Brazil. On March 26, 2017, Emirates started daily A380 service from Dubai to São Paulo, replacing the
Boeing 777-300ER previously used on that route – coincidentally, on the same day that the other
UAE airline,
Etihad, ended its services to São Paulo. ==Facilities==