Departure
97%
vs 95% ▲ 2
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Viracopos International Airport (SBKP/VCP) serves Campinas in São Paulo state, Brazil, and is one of the country's principal cargo gateways as well as a scheduled passenger hub for Azul. For the visiting simulator pilot it offers a single long, ILS-equipped runway, full radar and tower services, and a history stretching back to the 1930s.
Viracopos International Airport lies at Campinas, in the state of São Paulo, and is operated by Aeroportos Brasil. It is a major hub for cargo operators including Braspress Air Cargo, LATAM Cargo, Levu Air Cargo and Modern Logistics, and also serves as a base for Azul Brazilian Airlines. For a simulator pilot it is notable as a large, ILS-served international field with a single very long runway, historically important as São Paulo's main intercontinental gateway before Guarulhos opened.
The airport sits at an elevation of 2,152 feet, at coordinates 23.0069 S, 47.1344 W, near Campinas, roughly 100 kilometres from the city of São Paulo. It functions as an international airport with full air traffic control services, including approach, ground and tower frequencies.
Viracopos has a single physical runway, 15/33, some 10,635 feet long with a hard surface and runway lighting. An instrument landing system serves runway 15, supporting precision approaches to the field.
Pilots should expect to work Campinas Approach on 121.4 MHz, Ground on 121.9 MHz, and Campinas Tower on 118.25 MHz. The field is equipped with an ILS for runway 15.
The airfield's origins trace back to a simple landing ground built near Campinas during the 1932 Constitutionalist Revolution in São Paulo. The first paved runway was laid in 1946, shortly after the Second World War, followed by the construction of the first hangar in 1948 and a terminal building in 1950. During the 1950s the airport began to attract cargo operators. In 1960 it was upgraded with a 3,240 metre (10,630 foot) runway, long enough for the first generation of intercontinental jets such as the Boeing 707, de Havilland Comet, Vickers VC10, Convair 990 and Douglas DC-8, and the airport was formally inaugurated on 19 October 1960, the same day it received its first international flight. From then until 1985, Viracopos was the principal international airport for São Paulo, since Congonhas' runway was too short for intercontinental jets, although its distance from the city of São Paulo made it inconvenient for passengers, who often preferred routing through Rio de Janeiro-Galeão and on to Congonhas. The airport's role as São Paulo's main international gateway ended in 1985 with the opening of Guarulhos, after which Viracopos entered a decade of relative quiet before Infraero's mid-1990s master plan refocused it on cargo transportation, with a new passenger terminal completed in 2004 and a new control tower and expanded cargo facilities completed in 2005. The airport's name was officially standardised on 6 January 1987. Viracopos has long served as a weather alternate for Rio de Janeiro-Galeão and the São Paulo airports, closing on average only about five days a year due to weather.
Viracopos remains a major cargo and passenger airport, operated by Aeroportos Brasil, and serves as a hub for Azul Brazilian Airlines and for cargo carriers including Braspress Air Cargo, LATAM Cargo, Levu Air Cargo and Modern Logistics. It offers full approach, ground and tower air traffic services together with an ILS approach to runway 15, making it a capable destination for instrument and visual arrivals alike in the simulator.