Departure
96%
vs 95%
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Campo de Marte Airport (SBMT) is a historic general-aviation and helicopter airfield in the Santana district of São Paulo, Brazil, close to the Tietê river and just a few kilometres from the city centre. Opened in 1929 as São Paulo's first airport, it is now a busy hub for flying clubs, air-taxi operators and one of the world's largest urban helicopter fleets, making it an interesting and challenging VFR destination for the simulator pilot flying into a dense metropolitan area.
Campo de Marte is São Paulo's oldest airport, opened in 1929, and today functions as a general-aviation, helicopter and flying-club field rather than a scheduled-airline airport. It sits in the Santana neighbourhood a few kilometres north of downtown São Paulo, sandwiched close to the Marginal Tietê expressway that follows the Tietê river. For a sim pilot it offers a taste of dense-city VFR flying, surrounded by high terrain elevation for a coastal Brazilian city, heavy helicopter traffic and the historical interest of being the birthplace of civil aviation in São Paulo.
The airfield lies within the greater São Paulo terminal airspace and is served by São Paulo Approach. It is located in the Santana district, about 6 km from the centre of São Paulo, immediately alongside the Tietê river and the Marginal Tietê road corridor. It sits within a busy multi-airport environment that also includes Congonhas and Guarulhos, so traffic density and coordination with approach control are important considerations when planning a VFR arrival or departure.
The field has a single hard-surfaced, lit runway aligned 12/30. The data gives a landing/take-off length of 4,143 ft from the threshold of runway 12 and 4,746 ft from the threshold of runway 30; both directions are asphalt and equipped with lighting. There is no ILS.
Air traffic services are provided by São Paulo Approach on 119.8 MHz. Ground movements are handled on 121.6 MHz, with an operations frequency of 122.5 MHz and the tower on 118.7 MHz. There is no instrument landing system at the field.
The airport is a useful visual reference in its own right, sitting immediately beside the Marginal Tietê expressway and the Tietê river, with the dense high-rise skyline of downtown São Paulo only a few kilometres to the south.
Campo de Marte was the first airport built in São Paulo, officially opened on 26 July 1929, and took its name from the Champ de Mars in Paris, itself derived from the Campus Martius in Rome. It was bombarded during the 1932 Constitutionalist Revolution, and on 12 November 1933 hosted the start of scheduled VASP flights, with the airline's first routes linking Campo de Marte to São Carlos, São José do Rio Preto, Ribeirão Preto and Uberaba. It handled all of São Paulo's air traffic until VASP opened Congonhas Airport in 1936, a move driven partly by growing demand and partly by recurrent flooding from the adjoining Tietê river. On 22 May 1941 the São Paulo Air Force Base was created at Campo de Marte, before being decommissioned and relocated to Cumbica Farm at Guarulhos on 26 January 1945. On 11 May 2007 Pope Benedict XVI canonised Brazil's first native-born saint, Frei Galvão, during a mass held at the airport, and in 2017 an agreement was signed to establish an aerospace museum on the site. The airport was operated by Infraero from 1979 until 2022, when Pax Aeroportos, controlled by XP Inc., won a 30-year concession to run the field.
Campo de Marte today houses the São Paulo Flying Club (Aeroclube de São Paulo), founded in 1931, alongside helicopter operations, air-taxi companies and general aviation services; it also hosts the 4th Command of the Brazilian Air Force on its premises. The field has limited night operating capability, usually reserved for helicopters. It concentrates a significant share of São Paulo's large helicopter fleet, said to be among the largest in the world for a single city, alongside fixed-wing training and charter flying.