The Rio de Janeiro/Galeão – Antônio Carlos Jobim International Airport, operated as RIOgaleão, is the city's principal long-haul gateway. From the air its setting is the story: the whole complex occupies the northern end of the Ilha do Governador, the largest island in Guanabara Bay, about 20 kilometres from the centre of Rio, its two long runways reaching out over reclaimed ground toward the water.
Aviation came to the Galeão in 1923 with a naval air station, and the site was granted international airport status in 1945. The first passenger terminal opened in 1952, but the airport as travellers know it dates from 1977, when the large Terminal 1 was inaugurated to handle Rio's growing intercontinental traffic. In 1999 it was named after Antônio Carlos Jobim — Tom Jobim, the composer of "The Girl from Ipanema" and a defining figure of bossa nova.
