Great things were expected of Belo Horizonte's Tancredo Neves International Airport (TNIA), when it triumphantly opened in March 1984.

Originally planned to accommodate rapid passenger and cargo growth and provide a major stimulus to Brazil's third largest metropolitan area, the airport's original blueprint called for the construction of two long-range runways, four 300,00sqm expansive passenger terminals and associated cargo facilities.

This would allow the gateway to handle up to 20 million passengers and 150,000 tonnes of cargo annually when fully completed.

The only trouble was the expected passenger and cargo demand was slow to materalise - by its 20th anniversary in 2004, only 388,580 people had used its single five million capacity terminal and less than 26,600 tonnes of freight was being processed.

But since then the pace of growth has been remarkable with TNIA handling a record 5.56 million passengers in 2009, with forecasts indicating this will increase to 10 million by 2014.

A major boost to the airport's fortunes came with the announcement that Belo Horizonte would be a host city for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, with hundreds of thousands of fans expected to descend on the country for the event.

Already a major centre for agribusiness and industrial production, the greater Belo Horizonte metropolitan area is an economic powerhouse that generated an estimated $125 billion in 2008 - 8.9% of Brazil's total GDP - and the airport's impressive growth is stimulating investment in industries and services that rely on air connectivity and speedy logistics.

Meanwhile, the vision for Tancredo Neves' development took a new turn in 2001 and 2002 when Brazil's Ministry of Finance (through its Federal Reserve and Customs secretariats) announced plans to develop the country's first 'industrial airports' to underpin the country's economy.

The primary objective of the legislation was to create a speedy, flexible, cost-saving business environment at and around selected airports to attract new industry and expand trade. In 2004, TNIA was chosen as the first among four designated commercial airports to move forward with the new strategy.

In line with this policy, a special economic zone was established at the airport providing a number of investment privileges to encourage companies to locate on to its premises, including suspension of taxes on imported items.

Following the signing of a technical cooperation agreement between the Minas Gerais state government and TNIA operator INFRAERO, a new master plan has just been formed for the gateway to encourage air traffic growth and airport city projects.

Developments are now moving ahead rapidly with the state government of Minas Gerais in partnership with INFRAERO, recently concluding a new master plan drawn up by Changi Airports Group (CAG) and currently awaiting approval from the Brazilian authorities for a new terminal (T2) to be built by 2013.

In the short-term, more than $500 million is expected to be invested in the extension of the existing runway, new apron, new taxiway and new parking lot. In the medium-term, a new terminal and new runway will be built. Those investments will allow Tancredo Neves Airport to become one of South America's major gateways.

The new TNIA master plan, once fully realised, will see it become the only airport in Brazil with three parallel runways with simultaneous operational capacity.

Tancredo Neves' airport city is now beginning to rise, with Gol's completion of a major expansion of its aircraft maintenance depot and improvement works to the Linha Verde (Green Line Expressway) connecting the airport and city of Belo Horizonte, while the locating of hundreds of firms in to the surrounding metropolitan area is then expected to take place.

The airport already offers direct connections to the US (Miami), Europe (Lisbon), Central America (Panama City) and South America (Buenos Aires and Santiago) and is well connected to domestic destinations.

Optimism is high that current economic growth will encourage new airlines to open routes and TNIA has set a goal of becoming one of South America's fastest growing gateways.

While there is still a long way to go before Tancredo Neves International Airport achieves its original vision in scale and local economic impact, progress today is highly encouraging.