Tancredo Neves International Airport — Belo Horizonte, Brazil

Set on a plateau in the town of Confins, well north of downtown, CNF serves as Minas Gerais state's principal international gateway, complementing the smaller Pampulha airport that handles short-hop flights closer to central Belo Horizonte. The airport honors Tancredo Neves, the politician elected Brazil's first civilian president after two decades of military rule, who fell gravely ill before his inauguration and died without ever taking office, a loss still mourned as a turning point that shadowed the country's return to democracy. Opened in the 1980s, the facility has grown into a significant hub for both passenger and air-cargo traffic serving the mineral-rich interior of southeastern Brazil, with mining companies, steelmakers, and agribusiness exporters all relying on its freight capacity. Multiple runways and a modern terminal complex allow the airport to handle wide-body aircraft on routes to Europe and beyond, cementing its role as the primary connection between Minas Gerais and the wider world outside São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.