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Old 1st May 2016, 08:40
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seafire6b
 
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Ah yes chevvron, the famous "Ponte Aerea" (air bridge) from SDU in downtown Rio, to CGH, Sao Paulo city airport. I spent many hours flying between the two, usually aboard a Lockheed Electra, but quite often on an HS748 and sometimes even a Viscount, YS-11a, FH-227 or HP Herald (all except the Electra being RR Dart-powered!). That shuttle in Brazil actually predates Eastern Air Lines' better known service.

In fact, according to Wiki, the Ponte Aerea now has a departure every 10 minutes!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rio_de...ulo_air_bridge

Because of its location on a plateau above the surrounding city, Congonhas Airport - having a short runway and no overruns - became known as the "aircraft-carrier airport" by some pilots. Of course, at SDU you "only" got wet at each end of the runway!

That was before CGH gained an even more "challenging" reputation upon introduction of jets, being the B737 & 727 and later Fokker100. The 727s and early 737s only operated from CGH to GIG (Rio International) and as such, were not shuttle flights per se.

Apart from the obviously major time savings, during the 1960s the high risk of a road accident delay, or even highway robbery (buses and cars being commandeered by armed bandits!), meant the Ponte Aerea won, hands down, every time - but only for those who could afford the inexpensive flights!


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Last edited by seafire6b; 1st May 2016 at 09:24. Reason: Dart powered
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