In turn, the Viscount's domain was named after the plural of a shrub known in Brazil as congonha-do-campo Luxemburgia polyandra , of the Ochnaceae family. The airport was initially planned in , but it did not open until 12 April VASP started services to Rio de Janeiro on 5 August , advertising two daily round trips of 90 minutes' flight time in each direction, [ 7 ] starting a route that would eventually become one of the world's busiest. By , the airport was the third busiest in the world for air cargo.
As early jets such as the Convair , Convair , Boeing and Douglas DC-8 were bought by airlines, all long-haul travel shifted to Viracopos Airport , and the European airlines left Congonhas forever.
On 21 May , a formal agreement between Varig , Cruzeiro do Sul and VASP created the shuttle service to Rio de Janeiro that made the airport famous, being the first of its kind in the world. It operated between Rio de Janeiro—Santos Dumont and Congonhas Airports and comprised regular departures, usually every half-hour, a common check-in counter and simplified tickets and formalities.
Sadia, later known as Transbrasil , joined the partnership in In the service was discontinued, as more competitive economic times made airlines decide to operate their services independently on that route. Since the opening of Guarulhos Airport in , international flights no longer operate from Congonhas, and domestic operations have undergone restrictions.
Congonhas remains important to the city for regional and short-distance domestic flights. Therefore, even after Guarulhos International Airport was opened, Congonhas continued to face congestion problems, regarding both the number of passengers and the number of flight operations.
