Northeast Region, Brazil

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Northeast Region Região Nordeste
Region
Location of Northeast Region in Brazil
Country	Brazil
Largest cities	Salvador (by city proper) Recife (by metro pop.)
States	AL, BA, CE, MA, PB, PE, PI, RN and SE
Area
• Region	1,558,196 km2 (601,623 sq mi)
• Rank	3rd
Population  (2005 census)
• Region	51,065,275
• Estimate  (2009)	53,591,197
• Rank	2nd
• Density	33/km2 (85/sq mi)
• Rank	3rd
• Urban	71.5%
GDP
• Year	2007 estimate
• Total	R$347,797,041,000 (3rd)
• Per capita	R$6,749 (5th)
HDI
• Year	2005/2006
• Category	0.720 – medium (5th)
• Life expectancy	69 years (5th)
• Infant mortality	36.9% (5th)
• Literacy	79.3% (5th)
Time zone	UTC-03 (BRT)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-02 (BRST)

The Northeast Region of Brazil (Portuguese: Região Nordeste do Brasil) is composed of nine states: Maranhão, Piauí, Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Alagoas, Sergipe and Bahia, and the Fernando de Noronha Archipelago (formerly the federal territory of Fernando de Noronha, now part of Pernambuco state); it represents 18.26% of the Brazilian territory.

The Northeast Region has a population of 53.6 million people, which represents 28% of the total number in the whole country. Most of the population lives in urban areas and about 15 million people live in the sertão. It is famous in Brazil for its hot weather, beautiful beaches, rich culture (unique folklore, music, cuisine, literature), Carnival and St. John's festivities, the sertão and being the birthplace of the country.

Recife, the capital of the state of Pernambuco, is the largest metropolitan area of the Northeast Region.^[1] The biggest cities are Salvador, Fortaleza and Recife, which are the regional metropolitan areas of the Northeast, all with a population above a million inhabitants and metropolitan areas above 3.5 million.

Salvador International Airport, Recife International Airport and Fortaleza International Airport connect the Northeast region with major Brazilian cities, and operate international flights to the U.S. and Europe and some international chartered flights. The Northeast, according to Infraero, has the second largest number of passengers (roughly 20%) in Brazil.

The dominant language in the region is Portuguese, the official language of Brazil, with English and Spanish as common secondary languages.

The Northeast is home to several universities, museums, theaters, churches, and historical landmarks of colonial Brazil.

Geographically, the Northeast consists chiefly of an eroded continental craton with many low hills and small ranges. The highest peaks are around 1,850 metres (6,070 ft) in Bahia, while further north there are no peaks above 1,123 metres (3,684 ft). On its northern and western side, the plateaus fall steadily to the coast and into the basin of the Tocantins River in Maranhão, but on the eastern side it falls off quite sharply to the coast except in the valley of the São Francisco river. The steep slopes and long cliffs of the eastern coastline are known as "The Great Escarpment".

The escarpment serves an extremely important climatic function. Because for most of the year the Nordeste is out of reach of the Intertropical Convergence Zone, the easterly trade winds blow across the region, giving abundant rainfall to the coast but producing clear, dry conditions inland where the escarpment blocks moisture flow. This gives rise to four distinct regions, the zona da mata on the coast, the agreste on the escarpment, sertão beyond and the Mid north.

On the humid eastern littoral, before European settlement was a long thin area of tropical rainforest with species completely different from those found in the much larger Amazon rainforest, known as the Mata Atlantica. Because of the fact that the climate was extremely suitable for the cultivation of sugar cane, however, very little of the forest remains today. For many years, sugar cane cultivation in this region was the mainstay of Brazil's economy, being superseded only when coffee production developed in the late 19th century. The sugar cane is cultivated on large estates and the owners of these had and maintain tremendous political influence.

Since the escarpment does not generate any further rainfall on its slopes from the lifting of the trade winds, annual rainfall decreases steadily inland. After a relatively short distance, there is no longer enough rainfall to support tropical rainforest, especially since the rainfall is extremely erratic from year to year. This transitional zone is known as the agreste and because it is located on the steep escarpment, was not generally used whilst flatter land was abundant. Today, with irrigation water available, however, the agreste, as its name suggest, is a major farming region despite containing no major city, contains well developed medium large cities such as Caruaru, Campina Grande and Arapiraca.

See also: Sertão

In Portuguese, the word "sertão" (Portuguese pronunciation: [sexˈtɐ̃w̃], "backcountry" or "outback") first referred to the vast hinterlands of Asia and South America that Lusitanian explorers encountered. In Brazil, the geographical term referred to backlands away from the Atlantic coastal regions where the Portuguese first settled in South America in the early sixteenth century.

Geographically, the sertão consists mainly of low uplands that form part of the Brazilian Highlands. Most parts of the sertão are between 200 and 500 meters above sea level, with higher elevations found on the eastern edge in the Planalto da Borborema, where it merges into a sub-humid region known as agreste, in the Serra da Ibiapaba in western Ceará and in the Serro do Periquito of central Pernambuco. In the north, the sertão extends to the northern coastal plains of Rio Grande do Norte state, whilst in the south it fades out in the northern fringe of Minas Gerais.

Because the sertão lies close to the equator, temperatures remain nearly uniform throughout the year and are typically tropical, often extremely hot in the west. However, the sertão is distinctive in its low rainfall compared to other areas of Brazil. Because of the relatively cool temperatures in the South Atlantic Ocean, the intertropical convergence zone remains north of the region for most of the year, so that most of the year is very dry.

Although annual rainfall averages between 500 and 800 millimeters over most of the sertão and 1300 millimeters on the northern coast at Fortaleza, it is confined to a short rainy season. This season extends from January to April in the west, but in the eastern sertão it generally occurs from March to June. However, rainfall is extremely erratic and in some years the rains are minimal, leading to catastrophic drought.

It is a transition area between the high rainfalls region of amazonas and the semi arid region of sertão (hot and drought). Covers the states of Maranhão and half of Piaui.Template:MIR

File:EngenhoCanadeAcucar.gif

The Northeast was primarily inhabited by indigenous peoples, mostly speaking languages of the Tupi–Guarani family, who, before the colonial era, helped Europeans with the extraction of brazilwood from the coastal rainforest (or mata atlântica) in exchange for spices. But as colonization and commercial interest intensified in the region the number of Indians became drastically reduced due to the constant battles with the owners of the large sugar mills. Conflicts arose because the settlers had displaced the native inhabitants and then tried to enslave them as labor in the fields. The Portuguese colonials then considered the idea of importing black African slaves to use as manual labor. To this day culture in Northeast Brazil remains fully permeated by this African influence.

The Northeast was the first area of discovery in Brazil, when roughly 1,500 Portuguese arrived on April 22, 1500, under the command of Pedro Álvares Cabral at Porto Seguro, in the state of Bahia.

The coast of the Northeast was the stage for the first economic activity of the country, namely the extraction and export of pau Brasil, or brazilwood. Brazilwood was highly valued in Europe where it was used to make violin bows (especially the Pau de Pernambuco variety) and for the red dye it produced. Countries like France, who disagreed with the Treaty of Tordesillas, (a papal bull decreed by the Spanish-born Pope Alexander VI in 1493 which sought to divide the South American continent between the Spanish and the Portuguese), launched constant attacks against the coast with the objective of stealing the wood.

French colonists not only tried to settle in present-day Rio de Janeiro, from 1555 to 1567 (the so-called France Antarctique episode), but also in present-day São Luís, from 1612 to 1614 (the so-called France Equinoxiale). The Dutch, also opposed to the Treaty of Tordesillas, plundered the Northeast coast, sacked Bahia in 1604, and even temporarily captured Salvador. From 1630 to 1654 the Dutch set up more permanently in the Northeast and controlled a long stretch of coast that was most accessible to Europe without, however, penetrating the interior. But the colonists of the Dutch West India Company in Brazil were in a constant siege despite the presence in Recife of the great John Maurice of Nassau as governor.

Slave resistance began during the colonial era, in the 17th century, and eventually led to the formation of quilombos, or settlements of runaway and free-born African slaves. The Quilombo dos Palmares, the largest and most well-known of these settlements, was founded around 1600 in the Serra da Barriga hills, in the present state of Alagoas. Palmares, at the height of its power, was an independent, self-sustaining republic, hosting a population of over 30,000 free African men, women and children. There were over 200 buildings in the community, a church, four smithies, and a council house. Although Palmares managed to defend itself from the Dutch military and the Portuguese colonials for several decades, it was finally taken and destroyed and its leader Zumbi dos Palmares was captured and beheaded. His head was then displayed in a public plaza in Recife.

Besides being Brazil’s main sea port, Brazil's center of the African slave trade, a center of the sugar industry, and the seat of the first Catholic bishop of Brazil (in 1552) the city of Salvador was also the first general seat of government in Brazil as it is strategically located in the center of the eastern coast of the country. The government in Salvador sought to centralize power in an effort to support the various captaincies, geographical subdivisions that preceded the present states of Brazil, which at this time were in a state of crisis. Salvador remained the colonial capital until 1763 when it was succeeded by Rio de Janeiro, the new economic power center of that era.

Nordeste's major cities are almost all on the Atlantic coast. Some exceptions can be seen, however, like Petrolina, Pernambuco, which lies immediately north of the São Francisco River (one of the few rivers that crosses the sertão and does not dry in the arid periods of time which can be quite long). Another example is the city of Teresina in the state of Piauí, a city notorious for its sweltering heat.

Good rural areas are scarce and generally they are all near the coast, or in the west of Maranhão, and are mainly used for exportation products. In the semi-arid areas of the Northeast Region, rural areas do exist, but rain is scarce in the region; rural areas in the interior are generally based on subsistence agriculture. Fazendas (large farms) are common in the interior, where cattle-rasing and the cultivation of tropical fruit is often practiced. Also, in the areas where water is scarce local politicians often use the promise of irrigation projects as a bargaining chip to win elections.

Northeast Brazilians are a result of the mixing of European, Africans and Native Americans. The African ancestry is significant particularly in the coastal areas, and especially in Bahia, Pernambuco and Maranhão. The Native American ancestry is also present in all states, though more significant in Ceará and Maranhão. Northeast Brazilians also have a significant degree of European ancestry, the most important in the region, according to genetic studies.

The composition of the Northeast of Brazil compared to other regions of Brazil according to autosomal genetic studies focused on the Brazilian population (which has been found to be a complex melting pot of European, African and Native Americans components):

A 2011 autosomal DNA study, with nearly 1000 samples from all over the country ("whites", "pardos" and "blacks"), found a major European contribution, followed by a high African contribution and an important Native American component.^[2] The study showed that Brazilians from different regions are more homogeneous than previously thought by some based on the census alone. "Brazilian homogeneity is, therefore, a lot greater between Brazilian regions than within Brazilian regions."^[3]

Region[2]	European	African	Native American
Northern Brazil	68.80%	10.50%	18.50%
Northeast of Brazil	60.10%	29.30%	8.90%
Southeast Brazil	74.20%	17.30%	7.30%
Southern Brazil	79.50%	10.30%	9.40%

According to an autosomal DNA study from 2010, a new portrayal of each ethnicity contribution to the DNA of Brazilians, obtained with samples from the five regions of the country, has indicated that, on average, European ancestors are responsible for nearly 80% of the genetic heritage of the population. The variation between the regions is small, with the possible exception of the South, where the European contribution reaches nearly 90%. The results, published by the scientific American Journal of Human Biology by a team of the Catholic University of Brasília, show that, in Brazil, physical indicators such as colour of skin, eyes and hair have little to do with the genetic ancestry of each person, which has been shown in previous studies (regardless of census classification).^[4] Ancestry informative SNPs can be useful to estimate individual and population biogeographical ancestry. Brazilian population is characterized by a genetic background of three parental populations (European, African, and Brazilian Native Amerindians) with a wide degree and diverse patterns of admixture. In this work we analyzed the information content of 28 ancestry-informative SNPs into multiplexed panels using three parental population sources (African, Amerindian, and European) to infer the genetic admixture in an urban sample of the five Brazilian geopolitical regions. The SNPs assigned apart the parental populations from each other and thus can be applied for ancestry estimation in a three hybrid admixed population. Data was used to infer genetic ancestry in Brazilians with an admixture model. Pairwise estimates of F(st) among the five Brazilian geopolitical regions suggested little genetic differentiation only between the South and the remaining regions. Estimates of ancestry results are consistent with the heterogeneous genetic profile of Brazilian population, with a major contribution of European ancestry (0.771) followed by African (0.143) and Amerindian contributions (0.085). The described multiplexed SNP panels can be useful tool for bioanthropological studies but it can be mainly valuable to control for spurious results in genetic association studies in admixed populations."^[5]

Region[5]	European	African	Native American
Northern Brazil	71.10%	18.20%	10.70%
Northeast of Brazil	77.40%	13.60%	8.90%
West-Central Brazil	65.90%	18.70%	11.80%
Southeast Region, Brazil	79.90%	14.10%	6.10%
Southern Brazil	87.70%	7.70%	5.20%

An autosomal DNA study from 2009 found a similar profile "all the Brazilian samples (regions) lie more closely to the European group than to the African populations or to the Mestizos from Mexico."^[6]

Region[6]	European	African	Native American
Northern Brazil	60.6%	21.3%	18.1%
Northeast of Brazil	66.7%	23.3%	10.0%
West-Central Brazil	66.3%	21.7%	12.0%
Southeast Region, Brazil	60.7%	32.0%	7.3%
Southern Brazil	81.5%	9.3%	9.2%

According to another autosomal DNA study from 2008, by the University of Brasília (UnB), European ancestry dominates in the whole of Brazil (in all regions), accounting for 65.90% of heritage of the population, followed by the African contribution (24.80%) and the Native American (9.3%); the European ancestry being the dominant ancestry in all regions including the Northeast of Brazil.^[7]

A study from 1965, "Methods of Analysis of a Hybrid Population" (Human Biology, vol 37, number 1), led by the geneticists D. F. Roberts e R. W. Hiorns, found out the average the Northeastern Brazilian to be predominantly European in ancestry (65%), with minor but important African and Native American contributions (25% and 9%).^[8]

State	Symbol	Area km2	Municipalities	Mesoregions	Microregions	Population 2009 IBGE	HDI 2005	GDP (R$x1000) 2007 IBGE	GDP per capita2007 (R$)
Alagoas	AL	27,767,661	102	3	13	3,156,108	0.677	17,793,227	5.858
Bahia	BA	564,692,669	417	7	32	14,637,364	0.742	109,651,844	7.787
Ceará	CE	148,825,602	184	7	33	8,547,809	0.723	50,331,383	6.149
Maranhão	MA	331,983,293	217	5	21	6,367,138	0.683	31,606,026	5.165
Paraiba	PB	56,439,838	223	4	23	3,769,977	0.718	22,201,750	6.097
Pernambuco	PE	98,311,616	185	5	18	8,810,256	0.718	62,255,687	7.337
Piaui	PI	251,529,186	223	4	15	3,145,325	0.703	14,135,870	4.662
Rio Grande do Norte	RN	52,796,791	167	4	19	3,137,541	0.738	22,925,563	7.607
Sergipe	SE	21,910,348	75	3	13	2,019,679	0.742	16,895,691	8.712
Northeast	NE	1,558,196,000	1,793	42	187	53,591,197	0.720	347,797,041	6.749

City	Population (2009)
Salvador	2,998,056
Fortaleza	2,505,552
Recife	1,561,659
São Luís	997,098
Maceió	936,314
Natal	806,203
Teresina	802,537
João Pessoa	702,235
Jaboatão	687,688
Feira de Santana	591,707
Aracaju	544,039

Its economy is mainly based on the production of sugar, cocoa and cotton; as well as the extensive cattle breeding. Some time ago, at São Francisco River Valley (between States of Bahia and Pernambuco), fruits for export started being produced, too. At the seaside and the continental platform of the Region, the main activity is the exploitation of oil, which is later processed in the State of Bahia. Major industries (clothing, food, small machinery) are in the main metropolitan areas of the northeast.

Official reclamation activities have spurred the construction of numerous dams and hydroelectric projects, especially on the São Francisco River. In the 1960s a violent dictatorship in Brazil created a resilient state of porverty in the region.^[10] Development of tourism is a concerted, ongoing effort.^[11] The São Francisco River is responsible for the regional production of energy and it also bathes the states of Bahia, Sergipe, Alagoas and Pernambuco. The Northeast is rich in natural beauties with its beaches of clear, warm water. Beyond tourism, the Northeast also develops its industrial sector. Every day, important investors from many countries come to this region to search for new opportunities. The governments try to motivate the inflow of new investment money, based on the needs of its states.^[12]

According with IBGE 2007, The Nordeste has the 3rd largest livestock portfolio in Brazil, with approximately 16% of the total livestock output.

• Livestock Table 2007^[14]

Animal	Bahia	Pernambuco	Ceará	Maranhão	Rio G do Norte	Sergipe	Paraiba	Alagoas	Piaui	Northeast Total	BR Ranking & %
Goats	3187839	1595069	976880	379054	401510	17972	636457	67549	1371392	8633722	1st - 91.36%
Sheep	3096155	1256270	1998165	226216	514224	147102	409634	201273	1437219	9286258	1st - 57.19%
Cattle	11385722	2219892	2424290	6609438	1010238	1073692	1139322	1112125	1736520	28711240	4th - 14.38%
Milk x1000lit	965799	662078	416453	335744	214044	251624	170396	242740	76409	3335286	4th - 12.77%
Pigs	1904699	495957	1132673	1485351	182598	97524	143824	144652	1159355	6747013	2nd - 18.77%
Chickens +family	29110700	31916818	24063274	11447837	4817525	6230077	8412925	5714782	10017084	131731022	3rd - 11.69%
Chickens eggs ~	75216	142518	109464	14771	28729	22577	27480	28955	16721	466432 ~	3rd - 15.73%
Quails	318585	605371	82813	20903	51741	19235	148656	122297	30600	1400201	2nd - 18.46%
Quails eggs ~	3788	9390	826	332	838	123	1536	1044	379	18257 ~	2nd - 13.94%
Horses	621122	125976	141370	174320	42933	68503	49761	56962	149561	1430408	2nd - 25.53%
Donkeys	308904	100944	201079	118577	57955	11445	49528	10704	203876	1063012	1st - 91.39%
Mules	322241	54812	90367	106927	21277	17948	23678	21485	37788	687523	1st - 51.19%
Buffalos	17303	19239	1631	77503	875	380	730	1747	570	119978	3rd - 10.60%
Rabbits	31491	2383	1953	---	405	---	---	692	---	36924	3rd - 12.71%
Honey tonnes	2200	1177	3137	537	611	76	208	170	3483	11598	2nd - 33.38%

~ means dozens of thousands

As demonstrated on the above table, the Northeast region is a larger producer of goats, sheep, donkeys, mules, horses and has a reasonable production in pigs, honey, cattle and eggs. That is due mainly to the fact that a large portion of the area is located in Poligono das Secas, which means drought poligonal area or knows popularly as sertão and/or agreste. Those areas comprise roughly 66% ( or 81% if discounted the Maranhão state )of all northeast and its characterized to have semi dessertic weather/characteristics such as: hot and dry temperatures, drought, lack and scant rainfall, eroded soil and high evapotranspiration. Even so, those farmers (in many cases subsistence farmers) are increasing their output by turning to more resistant species like as goats and sheep (very appreciated in the local culinary), and more workable animals as horses, donkeys and mules to replace and help them to do the machinery tasks, if they do have none.

Tourism has grown significantly in the Region in the last decades, showing the high potential of each State.

Besides the capitals, most coastal cities of the Northeast Region have many natural beauties, such as the Abrolhos Marine National Park, Itacaré, Comandatuba Island, Costa do Sauípe, Canasvieiras and Porto Seguro, in the State of Bahia; the Marine National Park of Fernando de Noronha, Porto de Galinhas beach in the State of Pernambuco; tropical paradises, such as Canoa Quebrada and Jericoacoara, on the coast of Ceará, as well as the places to practice free flight, as Quixadá and Sobral; and Lençóis Maranhenses, embellishing the coast of Maranhão State, among many others. In the interior area, National Parks of Serra da Capivara and Sete Cidades, both in the State of Piauí; João Pessoa, in the State of Paraíba; Chapada Diamantina, in the State of Bahia; and many other attractions.

The economy is based on tourism (in coastal or historical cities) or agriculture. The tourist industry is based largely on the beaches, which attract thousands of tourists per year, not only from other regions of Brazil but also many from Europe (especially Italy, Portugal, Germany, France, United Kingdom and Spain), the United States, and Australia.

Nordeste has a rich culture, with its unique constructions in the old centers of Salvador, Recife and Olinda, dance (frevo and maracatu), music (axé and forró) and unique cuisine. Dishes particular to the region include carne de sol, farofa, acarajé, vatapá, paçoca, canjica, pamonha, quibebe, bolo de fubá cozido, sururu de capote and many others. Salvador was the first Brazilian capital.

The festival of São João (Saint John), one of the festas juninas, is especially popular in the Northeast, particularly in Caruaru in the state of Pernambuco and Campina Grande in the state of Paraíba. The festival takes place once a year in June. As the Northeast is mostly arid or semi-arid the Nordestinos give thanks to Saint John for the rainfall that typical falls this time of year, which greatly helps the farmers with their crops. And because this time of year also coincides with the corn harvest many regional dishes containing corn, such as canjica, pamonha, and milho verde, have become part of the cultural tradition.

The Bumba-Meu-Boi festival is also popular, especially in the state of Maranhão. During the Bumba-Meu-Bói festival in the city of São Luis do Maranhão and its environs there are many different groups, with elaborate costumes and different styles of music, which are called sotaques: sotaque de orquestra, as the names implies, uses an orchestra of saxophones, clarinets, flutes, banjos, drums, etc.; sotaque de zabumba employs primarily very large drums; and sotaque de matraca, a percussion instrument made of two pieces of wood that you carry in your hands and hit against each other. Some matracas are very large and are carried around the neck.

Many major cities in the Northeast also hold an off-season carnaval (or "micareta"), such as the Carnatal in Natal or the Fortal in Fortaleza. Since its inception in 1991, Carnatal has become the largest off-season carnaval in Brazil. The event takes place once a year, in December, and draws roughly one million participants. The Fortal takes place once every year as well but in the month of July. Held in a stadium called Cidade Fortal, the Fortal is considered the largest indoor off-season carnaval in Brazil.

• Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE)
• Universidade Federal da Bahia (UFBA)
• Universidade Federal do Ceará (UFC)
• Universidade Federal da Paraíba (UFPB)
• Universidade Federal de Campina Grande (UFCG)
• Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN)
• Universidade Federal de Sergipe (UFS)
• Universidade Federal de Alagoas (UFAL)
• and many others.

• Salvador

Deputado Luís Eduardo Magalhães International Airport is located in an area of more than 6 million square meters between sand dunes and native vegetation. The road route to the airport has already become one of the city’s main scenic attractions. The airport’s use has been growing at an average of 14% a year and now is responsible for more than 30% of passenger movement in Brazil’s Northeast. Nearly 35 thousand people circulate daily through the passenger terminal. The airport generates more than 16 thousand direct and indirect jobs, to serve a daily average of over 10 thousand passengers, 250 takeoffs and landings of 100 domestic and 16 international flights.

In addition to domestic and regional services, the airport has non-stop flights to Lisbon, Madrid, Frankfurt, Montevideo, Santiago, Buenos Aires, Asunción and Miami. Its IATA airport code is SSA and it is the busiest airport in northeastern Brazil and the sixth-busiest in the country.

• Recife

Guararapes International Airport. The new Recife/Guararapes – Gilberto Freyre International Airport has been open since July 2004 and has 52 thousand square meters of area. The largest airport in the North and Northeast regions, Guararapes had its capacity expanded from 1.5 million to 5 million passengers a year. There are currently 64 check-in counters, versus the former terminal’s 24. The shopping and leisure area was also totally remodeled, within the “Aeroshopping” concept, which transforms an airport into a center for business, comfort and high-quality products and services. The commercial spaces will be occupied in steps and the final total will be 142 shops. Since 2000, Recife has had the longest runway in the Northeast, at 3,305 meters. Its extension permits operations with jumbo jets, such as the Boeing 747-400, which can carry 290 passengers and 62 tons of cargo, with sufficient range to fly nonstop to anywhere in South and Central America, Africa and parts of Europe, the United States and Canada. Current domestic destinations include most major cities in Brazil, and there are also international flights to Paris, France, Lisbon, Portugal and Buenos Aires, Argentina.

• Fortaleza

The Pinto Martins International Airport is situated in Fortaleza. The passenger terminal is air conditioned and has four levels. The basement level has parking for 1,000 cars as well as automatic teller machines and a stop for regular city buses.

The ground level has 31 check-in counters, airline offices, car rental agencies, special tourist information, a juvenile court bureau to facilitate travel of minors, a National Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC) office, information counter, passenger arrival area and access to two taxi stops.

The second level contains shops, a food court and domestic and international boarding lounges. The top floor has a beer garden and panoramic deck overlooking the maneuvering apron with a view of the Fortaleza skyline. The apron is 152,857 square meters and can accommodate 14 aircraft at once in pre-established positions (“boxes”).

The scheduled airlines operating out of Fortaleza are Cabo Verde Airlines (code-sharing with TAP), TAM, Varig, TAP, Delta Air Lines, Alitalia, Livingston and TUI Airlines. The airport also frequently receives domestic and international flights, some of them charters. The passenger terminal, opened in 1998, was designed to have a useful life of 50 years. The former terminal, called the General Aviation Terminal, is now used for general aviation and the fire brigade. The control tower is located alongside.

The Northeast of Brazil is home to some notable Brazilians, including 6 former presidents:

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