Porto Alegre Salgado Filho Airport - Spotting Guide

Porto Alegre Salgado Filho Airport – Spotting Guide

April 8, 2019 - last modified on December 6, 2023

The airport Salgado Filho (IATA: POA, ICAO: SBPA) serves the capital of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, and was named after an important local politician who was minister of Brazilian aeronautics. It was at this small airfield in the 1920s whe the first Brazilian airline, Varig, now extinct, made its base and became the largest airline that Brazil ever had. Until this day there are hangars made by this company for the maintenance of aircraft.

The airport has a single track of 2280 meters that today is intensely used. In 2016 the airport was privatized and the winner of the auction was FRAPORT, Germany, foreseeing to invest more than one billion dollars in the expansion of the runway and construction of more terminals . Currently the airport has two terminals, and last year it handled approximately 8.5 million passengers and 80,000 aircraft movements between landings and takeoffs. International flights depart from POA to destinations such as Buenos Aires, Montevideu, Lima, Rosario, Cordoba, Panama City and Lisbon. The three great airlines of Brazil divide the movement of POA almost equally, being that Azul Airlines takes a small advantage. From what we could tell the airport movements are constant over the day, not having a schedule of more or less flights. The airport also receives non-scheduled cargo planes so if you are lucky you may came across, for example, a DC-10 from Bolivian TAB company.

And if talking about spotting the airport offers good views, however two of them today are through glass, which are at terminal 01 and 02 and one point, probably the most popular among locals is the place that is at head 11. Other places, which are also possible to photograph, were not recommended by any local spotter due to the possibility of you suffering some type of violence. On the map you will find that there are possible places but not indicated to go to photograph.

Official website of Porto Alegre airport

Written by Sandro Bandeira Colaço and some infos and photos provided by João Machado. Laste Change: July 2023 (Spot 3 and 4 updated)

Rating
Movements
Airline Variety
Photo Locations
Weather
Airport Information
Runways
11/29	2.280m (7.481 ft)
Terminals
Terminal 1	Only active terminal at the moment
Terminal 2	closed (2019)
Spotting Information
Ladder	There is no need for.
Car/Public Transport	Car is not needed. To go from terminal 1 to 2 it is possible to go on foot and from 2 it is also possible to walk to spot #3.
Restrooms	Available at all spotting locations.
Drinks/Food	At spots #1 and #2 you will be inside the terminals and at #3 there is a Mc Donald`s within walking distance with food and drinks.
Hotels	There are several hotels near the airport.
Season	The best months are in the summer that runs from December to February as you have more sunlight. In the winter months, from July to August, in addition to shorter days, the probability of having cloudy days is very high in Porto Alegre.
Security	All locations mentioned here are safe spotting locations. There are more points where you can shoot around the airport, just see on the map. But in conversation with some local spotters, we recommend no to go to rwy 29 due to the great possibility of being robbed in that region, so we did not put any photo area in that region.
Runway Usage
11/29	Is the only airport lane and 11 is the most used for arrivals. But it depends on the winds that can vary during the day.

	Spot #1 – Terminal 01
WHERE	Large area where restaurants are located and can be accessed without a boarding pass. It is accessible to anyone, has a large glass area that is usually clean. To get here, if you disembark at the airport you need to get on the first floor, then just go out in the lobby and take the escalators up to the second floor. Walk ahead a few meters and you will see a couple of restaurants where you can spot from. The distance between the terminals is approximately 700 meters so you can go walking along the road that connects both.

WHAT	Very popular location among spotters as it provides a very broad view of aircraft operations, as well as landings and takeoffs. The view here is very good, even aircraft freighters can be photographed from site, landings and takeoffs and taxi from the aircraft.

TIME	You can photograph in this place at all times of the year, in the winter months during some hours of the morning is contra-light, but the rest of the year the light is favorable.

MISC.	You are inside the terminal so everything is at your disposal, bathrooms, bars, etc.’ The restaurants are opening progressively, only the McDonald’s is open daily. The only negative point is that you will photograph through glasses, but from the times I was here the windows were clean.

FOCAL LENGTH	From 50 to 400mm, because you can photograph from stationary planes to landings and takeoffs.

	Spot #2 – Terminal 02 (closed)
WHERE	The terminal has bee closed in September 2019 and is no longer used for flights. BUT you can still get access as there are some offices in use. Upon request, every time you go there you need to ask by drop a mail to imprensapoa@fraportbrasil.com some days in advance. It is their press mail, so preferably you’d like to do it on weekdays. From the lobby, which is on the first floor, go up the stairs and go ahead until you see the windows. The terminal is small, very easy to find. If you come by car when entering the terminal you will see the stairs immediatly.

WHAT	Here you can photograph aircraft by taxi in terminal 1, which is on the opposite side. Aircraft taxiing for takeoff on lane 11 and taxiing of cargo aircraft to the freighter terminal.

TIME	Best for photos after 11 AM in the summer and winter until the afternoon.

MISC.	Everything is closed here.

FOCAL LENGTH	50-400mm From this location it is possible to photograph the planes parked and even takeoffs and landings, so the focal distance is very wide.

	Spot #3 – Boulevard Laçador
WHERE	This place is called “Boulevard Laçador” and is a commercial area with shops and restaurant. It has a huge playground and a DC-3 on display. A pretty safe spot! Parking is available (for a fee) but you can reach it from the terminal too. There maybe 3 or 4 holes in the fence for photography which can fit nearly all kind of lenses

WHAT	Aircraft landing when RWY 11 is in use and some takeoffs when RWY 29 is in use, but they are already high so only belly shots possible. There is a preserved DC-3 of Varig, in excellent condition. Keep in mind, during the summer, when light is favorable, heat haze can be an issue. If you wan’t to get some night shots of aircraft flying, the place remains open till 11pm.

TIME	Backlight most of the year, in the summer, you can get favorable light in the mornings and late afternoons, good to check suncalc.

MISC.	You have everything you need. Parking, washrooms, dozens of options for food, from McDonalds to to more upscale food (Italian, barbecue, etc). Plenty of benches. This area can get crowded during weekends, so getting a clean shot of the DC-3 it’s a little hard, much easier during week days. Besides the DC-3, there’s also a small area dedicated to Varig with some historical pictures and dozens of aircraft models, just follow the signs for the area where you pay for the parking lot and go upstairs. Still inside this comercial area, in front of a restaurant, there’s a tiptank of a Super Constellation.

FOCAL LENGTH	You can use from 50 to 400mm depending on the track in use and the size of the aircraft

	Spot #4 – Avenida dos Estados
WHERE	This place is outside the terminal in the states street. From any of the terminals it is possible to access this location by walking or by using application or taxi vehicles. If you choose to walk from Terminal 1 the distance is approximately 1.5 kms and from Terminal 2 less than one thousand meters. There is a small sidewalk where you can stay. If you don’t wanna stay on the road (maybe a little bit unsafe) you can ask at the nearby rental car company if you can get on their ground.

WHAT	Due to a new installed double fence only arrivals on runway 11 are possible.

TIME	You can shoot all day, just changing position as needed

MISC.	After short walk, something around 500 meters, there is the Boulevard Laçador (previous spot). We do not have news of problems with violence in this place, but we always recommend caution and if possible go accompanied to this place.

FOCAL LENGTH	You can use from 50 to 400mm depending on the track in use and the size of the aircraft