Rio de Janeiro Airport (GIG): terminals, flights

Aeroporto Internacional do Rio de Janeiro–Galeão (IATA: GIG, ICAO: SBGL) is a network point for Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Our catalogue shows 0 departing routes and 1 arriving, with the airlines, frequencies and lowest peso (MXN) fares listed below.

Airport facts

GIG carries 1 routes and 2 airlines in our catalogue, totalling 4 weekly departures. Aeroporto Internacional do Rio de Janeiro–Galeão (ICAO SBGL) serves Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in the America/Sao_Paulo zone (UTC−3 in July). Its coordinates (-22.81, -43.25056) are the basis of every distance on this site.

• IATA: GIG
• ICAO: SBGL
• City: Rio de Janeiro
• Country: Brazil
• Time zone: America/Sao_Paulo
• Coordinates: -22.81, -43.25056
• Airlines at the airport: 2

Time difference against Mexico City. In July, Rio de Janeiro runs 3 h ahead of the Mexican capital (UTC−3 versus UTC−6). In January the airport operates on UTC−3, so the gap is not constant across the year: daylight saving shifts it. This is the calculation that decides whether a pre-booked ground connection still works.

Base of LATAM Airlines. An airline basing here means aircraft and crews overnighting at the airport: more of its own services to rebook a disrupted passenger onto, and more early departures. The flip side is that at an airport dominated by one carrier the competitive pressure on fares is weaker than where several compete.

Airlines at GIG

2 catalogued airlines operate routes to or from GIG: 2 full-service and 0 low-cost, with checked allowance from 23 to 25 kg. Alliances present: SkyTeam. They cover 1 catalogued routes and 4 weekly departures. The table below lists each operator with its type, alliance and checked allowance.

Carriers in our catalogue operating routes to or from this airport, with type, alliance and economy baggage allowance:

2 kg separate the most generous operator from the leanest at GIG. That gap is what reorders prices once the bag is in: a cheaper base fare on a carrier with no included baggage can land above a full-service one the moment you check a single piece. Compare the total, not the headline figure.

Alliances present at GIG: SkyTeam. It matters for two concrete things: where miles credit, and what happens when something breaks. Within one alliance, rebooking onto another member is usually provided for; between carriers with no agreement it does not exist and depends on goodwill at the desk. If you buy two legs on operators from different alliances, treat them as two separate trips.

Routes to Rio de Janeiro (GIG)

Our catalogue lists 1 routes into GIG, totalling 4 weekly departures and spanning 7,666 to 7,666 km. The busiest is MEX-GIG at ~4 flights a week; 0 of them carry a cached fare, spread across 1 audience profiles. Every row in this section comes from that same corridor catalogue, not from a live search.

What traffic GIG moves. By audience profile, the routes catalogued here split as: Latin American regional corridor (1). That mix explains the airport’s seasonality: family corridors spike in December and Holy Week, leisure ones follow the holiday calendar, and regional ones stay flatter across the year.

Not all of these routes fly daily. The thinnest on the list is MEX-GIG at ~4 weekly departures — under one a day. On a pair like that a cancellation is not resolved in hours: the next seat may be two or three days out, which is why it is worth avoiding the last flight before a fixed commitment.

Why some rows have no fare. Of the 1 routes listed, 0 returned a price on the collector’s last pass and the rest show a dash. A dash means the automated query got no result for that pair — not that the route is suspended or expensive. For those pairs the reference price comes from the live search, which queries current inventory.

Connection tips

GIG concentrates 4 catalogued weekly departures across 2 airlines, in the America/Sao_Paulo zone. That density is what decides how much slack to leave on a connection: the more of its own services the airline runs here, the more same-day rebooking options exist.

Aeroporto Internacional do Rio de Janeiro–Galeão runs on the America/Sao_Paulo time zone; factor the offset from your origin city when planning connections and transfers. The busiest route at GIG is MEX-GIG (~4 flights a week). Book 4–8 weeks ahead for the busiest routes to/from Rio de Janeiro; fares climb in December, Holy Week and summer. Each route guide above shows month-by-month seasonality and the lowest peso fare. That window is a general Mexican-market rule of thumb, not a measurement of this route: our series records observed prices, not the lead time at which each ticket was bought.

The cheap connection that loses the checked bag. Two separate tickets are not one itinerary: there is no interline agreement, the bag is not checked through to the final destination, and if the first flight lands late the second airline owes you nothing — it sold a different flight. The apparent saving evaporates the moment you buy a same-day replacement. On a single ticket, rebooking and the bag transfer are the carrier’s problem, not yours.

Other airports in Brazil

1 further Brazil airport appear in our catalogue besides GIG, with 1 routes between them. The best-connected is São Paulo (GRU) with 1 routes, and the nearest sits ~337 km great-circle from GIG. The 1 distances in this section are measured from each airport’s own coordinates.

Other airports in the same country in our catalogue, with the number of catalogued routes — useful if you need an alternative gateway:

Great-circle distance is not the transfer. The figures in the table are geodesic, computed from each airport’s coordinates; the real journey depends on whether road, rail or a domestic flight exists, and on what they cost. An airport 300 km away can be more accessible than one at 120 km if the first has a direct motorway and the second does not. Use them to rule out, not to plan.

When switching airport pays. Only when the fare gap beats the transfer plus the hotel night an early departure sometimes forces, and only with a comfortable margin: reaching the alternative airport by road introduces a risk the airline does not carry. Miss the flight in traffic and the ticket is not refunded; that risk should be netted off the saving before deciding.

FAQ

The 8 questions on this record are answered from catalogue figures for GIG: routes and weekly frequencies, minimum fares observed by the collector, checked-baggage allowances and the rights regime that applies on each leg. No answer adds data that is not in those sources.

What are the IATA and ICAO codes for Rio de Janeiro airport? The IATA code is GIG and the ICAO code is SBGL. Aeroporto Internacional do Rio de Janeiro–Galeão serves Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Which airlines operate at GIG? Airlines on our catalogued routes at GIG: Aeromexico, LATAM Airlines.

How many routes are there from Rio de Janeiro (GIG)? Our catalogue lists 0 departing routes and 1 arriving at GIG — see the tables above.

What time zone is GIG in? GIG operates in the America/Sao_Paulo time zone.

How many weekly departures does GIG have in this catalogue? Across the catalogued routes touching GIG we count 4 weekly departures over 2 airlines and 1 routes. That is the coverage relevant to Mexican travellers, not the airport’s full directory.

What is the time difference between Rio de Janeiro and Mexico City? In July, Rio de Janeiro runs 3 h ahead of Mexico City (UTC−3 versus UTC−6). The gap shifts with daylight saving, so recompute it for your exact date before booking transfers.

What is the longest catalogued route at GIG? Catalogued routes at GIG span 7,666 to 7,666 km great-circle, computed from each airport’s coordinates. That distance drives aircraft type and the applicable compensation band on European sectors.

Which airlines are based at GIG? LATAM Airlines run GIG as a base. An airline based here keeps aircraft and crews overnight, so it has more of its own services to rebook a disrupted passenger onto the same day.

Related

• Brazil airports

Published by FlightsMX Editorial Team. Last verified: May 2026.