Rio de Janeiro, June 13 (IANS): Flights at Brazil's major airports were mostly uninterrupted on the opening day of the World Cup, despite a strike by airline staff in Rio de Janeiro.
According to Brazil's state-run airport operator Infraero, almost all flights in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro departed Thursday without delay, reports Xinhua.
There were fears of bottlenecks at Rio's Tom Jobim International Airport after employees stopped work over a pay dispute.
According to the Simarj workers' union, only 30 percent of its members participated in the action at the Santos Dumont and Tom Jobim airports.
"Our aim is not to inconvenience passengers," Simarj's vice president Jose Andrade Cruz said.
"We don't want customers to turn against us and for that reason the action has more to do with the operational side than check-in."
Sao Paulo's Guarulhos International Airport, which boasts a brand new terminal, also reported an incident-free day, despite the influx of visitors arriving in the city for the Brazil-Croatia Group A fixture.
Despite the relative calm at airports in Brazil's two largest cities, some passengers were unhappy with long check-in queues at Santos Dumont.
"I waited in the line for an hour and was then told I was too late to board," said Marcelo, a 25-year-old student from Rio.
"Now I don't know if I will make it to Sao Paulo for the match."
Brazil is expecting 3.7 million tourists during football's showpiece tournament, which ends July 13. More than 600,000 are expected to be foreigners.