1946: A Milestone for a Brazilian Airport Built During World War II

January 24, 1946

In southern Brazil’s state of Paraná, a major milestone took place for an airport that was completed the previous year. This airport, which had been jointly built by the Brazilian Air Force Ministry and U.S. Army as a military installation during the final months of World War II, was officially dedicated for civilian use. The airport is located in the municipality of São José dos Pinhais, which is only nine miles (14.5 kilometers) southeast of Paraná’s capital city of Curitiba.

Within its first decade of regular operations, this facility – known at the time as Curitiba Airport – steadily grew with respect to both passenger traffic and international prominence. “Curitiba’s airport is the second busiest in the republic,” noted reporter Edward Tomlinson (1892-1973) in a 1954 story about Paraná that he wrote for the Scripps Howard News Service.

On July 15, 1985, the airport was renamed in honor of Alfonso Pena (1847-1909). A renowned attorney and public official, Pena served as the sixth president of Brazil from 1906 until his death. Curitiba-President Alfonso Pena International Airport has been operated by the São Paulo-based transportation company CCR S.A. (originally called Companhia de Concessões Rodoviárias) since 2021. (The accompanying photo of the airport’s passenger terminal was taken in 2013.)

Photo Credit: Paulo JC Nogueira (licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en)

A list of airports in Brazil is available at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_airports_in_Brazil