Sao Paulo: Football legend Pele fears Brazil’s airports will find it hard to cope with increased traffic during this year’s World Cup.
While media reports have focused on construction delays to the country’s 12 World Cup stadia, Pele said Monday the state of airports is even more urgent, reports Xinhua.
“My biggest concern is the infrastructure — the airports,” Pele was quoted as saying by Estado de S.Paulo. “I returned recently [to Sao Paulo] and the airport was chaotic.”
The Brazilian government expects more than 600,000 tourists to visit Brazil during football’s signature tournament.
Brazil was awarded the World Cup hosting rights in 2007. But Brazilian officials have admitted the planned redevelopment of airports will not be completed in time for the June 12-July 13 event.
Meanwhile, three stadia — in Sao Paulo, Curitiba and Cuiaba — are still under construction despite earlier assurances they would be ready by December 2013.
“Unfortunately the organisation has been poor,” Pele said. “I was part of [World Cup] functions that took place four years ago so there was time to get things right. There is no reason to be in the current situation.”
The Brazilian government last month announced the country’s military airports will be used during the tournament to reduce congestion.
Infrastructure experts say that Brazil has run out of time to meet its promise to fully expand and renovate airports that will serve hundreds of thousands of fans pouring into the country for the World Cup that starts in just two months.
Improvements are ready at only two of the 13 major airports that will be used in the tournament. Around the nation, the sounds of jet engines blend with the noise of drills, jackhammers and bulldozers. Construction workers carrying power tools walk alongside passengers toting their luggage.
Most analysts say they don’t expect total chaos when the Cup begins on June 12. But they say fans should brace for unfinished construction work, long check-in lines, and last-minute gate changes and flight delays — all already too common in the country’s airports. There will be crowded boarding areas, difficulties claiming baggage, few food-court options and woeful transportation.
Don’t expect to find trains or subway lines to and from the city. Expensive taxis will be the only option most of the time, and long hours in traffic will be the norm on the way to hotels.
The government civil aviation department acknowledges delays, though it insists that “Brazilian airports will be ready” for World Cup tourists.
“The problems seen in some airports will not keep visitors from being welcomed with quality,” the department said in a statement.
