Introducing Brasília

In April 1960, Brasília usurped brash and beautiful Río do Janeiro to become Brazil’s capital city. The ultimate planned city, Brasília was built in just four years at the behest of then President Kubitschek, who campaigned on a pledge to move the capital away from the coast to a high scrubby plateau, 3,000 feet above sea level and 420 miles from the nearest road.

Urban designer Luis Costa won the competition to transform the dream into concrete and architect Oscar Niemeyer was commissioned to design an epic series of public buildings that would form the country’s administrative and economic nucleus. The intent was to build a futuristic utopia that would eliminate political, social, and economic barriers and create an outward expression of an egalitarian philosophy that would cleanse Brazil of its corrupt and often brutal past. Neimeyer’s love of sensual waves summoned a style of architecture that, he claimed, resembled both the curvaceous form of the Brazilian woman and the undulating mountains of his homeland. The result feels at times Orwellian, at times cold and stark, but always honest, thrilling, and gloriously avant grade.

Nowadays, Brasília is a dynamic, cosmopolitan center for multinational businesses, with robust construction industries as well as tourism, and service sectors supporting a growing economy. Certainly, Brasília has had its share of social angst. While Brasília was designed to support a population of 500,000 people, more than two million people now weigh heavy on the city’s infrastructure. To marry human forces that are essentially organic with a structured model has become the great challenge of Brasília’s time. Still, it is impossible for visitors not to be inspired by the city’s sublime modernist monuments or to be moved by the resolute belief of Oscar Niemeyer. With each building stacked like dominoes, the effect is overwhelming and allows for undistracted appreciation.

Executive airports located within a 50-mile radius of Brasília:

  • Brasilia-Presidente Juscelino Kubitschek International Airport is located one mile from the city’s center
  • Caldas Novas Airport is located 45 miles from the city’s center

Popular aircraft charters* in the the Belo Horizonte region include:

  • Citation Excel (super light)
  • King Air 350 (turboprops)
  • Learjet 45 XR (super light)
  • Citation CJ3 (light)
  • Learjet 31ER 400A (light)
  • Learjet 60 XR (midsize)
  • Hawker 800 (midsize)
  • Citation III (midsize)
  • Gulfstream G200 (super midsize)
  • Citation Sovereign (super midsize)
  • Falcon 2000 EX (large)

*This is just a sample. Zephyr Jets provides access to aircraft at every end of the spectrum, from luxurious VIP airliners, to ultra long range business jets, to helicopters, and economical turboprops.