João Pessoa Airport as a Barrier to Economic Growth, and How a New Bridge Could Pave the Way for a New Terminal

There is a peculiarity between Natal and João Pessoa that I need to highlight from experience. For a long time, Natal had a small airport, but it was always busy, and with each expansion, demand quickly absorbed the new capacity, requiring further renovations in a short time. Even when it seemed overcrowded at times, it was always praised.

The airport was well regarded precisely because of its location: it was very close to the city’s main passenger-generating areas, its beaches and neighborhoods with high air travel demand, and after successive expansions, it already had a respectable capacity in its final years. On average, trips from the main passenger hubs took between 15 and 20 minutes, and the area naturally benefited from commuter traffic and multiple transport options. For hotels, the cost of transporting guests to and from Augusto Severo Airport was low, with clear and practical routes.

The Transition

In 2014, during the World Cup, the transition between airports took place: Augusto Severo ceased operations, and the city began relying on Aluízio Alves Airport, farther away and with more complicated access. Coincidentally, or not, this was when the “problems” began to show up across various passenger flow and economic performance indicators linked to tourism. It is true that here and there some growth is noticeable, but nothing comparable to the upward curve that existed before the change.

What had once been a fast and cheap route became tiring, congested, and expensive. The result was immediate: passengers were less willing to face the longer commute, perceptions of comfort dropped, and consequently, flights decreased. With emptier planes, market logic made tickets more expensive—“fewer flights = higher fares”—to keep the routes viable.

João Pessoa’s Position

João Pessoa today faces an intermediate situation. The “Jampa” airport is farther away than Natal’s old Augusto Severo route but still closer than Natal’s Aluízio Alves. The problem is that it lacks comparable quality infrastructure, lagging behind both of them. And this is happening just as the Paraíba capital is experiencing a real estate and population boom.

While Natal was stifled for decades by a Master Plan that prevented verticalization, driving up land prices and limiting real estate potential, João Pessoa took advantage of the opportunity. The capital that could have gone to Natal found a friendlier and more profitable environment in João Pessoa. Today, “Jampa” has not only closed the gap but surpassed Natal in population: once it had 100,000 fewer residents, now it has 100,000 more.

This growth only reinforces how much a new airport, in a better location, could unlock even more economic potential for the city. The irony is that while the airport relocation was negative for Natal, in João Pessoa it could actually be positive.

The New Bridge as an Express Route

João Pessoa is currently building a new bridge, an infrastructure leap that will allow faster and relatively less congested flows between the city’s main passenger-generating area and an express exit from the urban sprawl. This new link opens the possibility of quickly reaching expressways leading both to expansion zones and to BR-101 itself.

This brings two important possibilities. The first is to make the route to the current airport more practical, functioning as a kind of beltway: even if farther, the expressway could avoid the city’s internal traffic, which today compromises the trip. The concern, however, should be to avoid repeating Natal’s mistake, where sparsely inhabited stretches of the airport access route turned into insecurity hotspots.

The second possibility is more strategic: the new bridge could prepare the ground for relocating the airport to an area closer to this exit, just outside the urban sprawl. This would simultaneously ensure greater proximity for passengers and enable the construction of a modern terminal, capable of meeting not only current demand but also future growth projections.

The project will open a new region, with potential for the creation of additional express routes after the bridge, and this could be the key to transforming local mobility. An airport requires fast access to the main passenger-generating areas, and in João Pessoa’s case, that region is the coastline and its satellite neighborhoods. If the trip between the airport and the hotel zone is quick, safe, and direct, the impact could be decisive for both tourists and locals. Visitors who know they can get to their hotel within minutes of landing will certainly find that more appealing. Likewise, frequent travelers would suffer less from long, congested commutes. For now, though, João Pessoa’s airport does not have the structure the city deserves.

Estimated route and travel time between the current airport and Manaíra Beach, a sample path for tourists heading to one of the main urban beaches:

• Approx. 23 kilometers with an estimated 34-minute duration

Currently, there is no new airport project. What follows here are only simulations of a possible terminal in an area now used mainly for sugarcane cultivation.

Natal Reacts

Recently, Natal modernized its Master Plan, opening the way to compete on more balanced terms with João Pessoa. However, questions remain about how new tax strategies in Brazil, fees and taxes on rentals and real estate transactions, will impact the market. If they become too burdensome, recovery could be compromised.

It is also important to note that Rio Grande do Norte carries the stigma of “construction insecurity”: investors frequently report difficulties in approving or executing projects that would be welcomed in other states. The impression, many times, is that there is even deliberate resistance to economic-impact ventures of any scale. If this perception doesn’t change, then even with urban adjustments, Natal may remain at a disadvantage compared to João Pessoa’s dynamism.

The strong temptation to invest there

Brazil faces significant limitations when it comes to investment. On one hand, the government operates under budgetary constraints and bureaucratic barriers; on the other, the private sector often hesitates to make bold moves due to legal uncertainty, which can turn opportunities into serious risks. Those who dare to invest heavily in the country risk being penalized by unstable rules, shifting interpretations, or unexpected taxes.

Even so, vast new frontiers remain open. The new bridge connection in João Pessoa is a concrete example: on the far side, a strong hub of real estate appreciation could emerge, driven by fast access to the city. This growth corridor could create opportunities beyond the traditional domestic and international aviation networks.

It is reasonable to envision private investment in local aerodromes inspired by successful models elsewhere in Brazil. One such example is the São Paulo Catarina International Executive Airport, which showcased the potential of a market once overlooked: high-income business jets operating out of smaller, specialized airports.

Although there is a clear difference between São Paulo’s economic scale and João Pessoa’s reality, nothing prevents the adoption of the same philosophy, provided it is properly scaled. An executive aerodrome, combined with a new real estate corridor enabled by the bridge, could propel João Pessoa to a new level of economic development, blending tourism, business, and real estate investment into a single integrated strategy.