Twenty-six boarding bridges and sixty-eight check-in counters will be installed at Terminal 2 by April 2016.

The aircraft apron will also be expanded and parking facilities "modernised".

In all, $2 billion (£1.1 billion/€1.4 billion) will be invested between August this year and April 2016, after a concession agreement was signed with new operator Aeroportos do Futuro.

It is made up of a consortium of Odebrecht TransPort, Changi Airports International and Infraero, an airport infrastructure company.

It assumes a 51 per cent stake in Antonio Carlos Jobim International Airport.

Aeroportos de Futuro will assume complete management of the airport from the new year.

"We build new facilities, new stores, new restaurants," said the President of the dealership, Luiz Rocha.

"Parking will be modernised, a number of improvements that will be experienced by the public from the end of the year."

He said some "small improvements" will be felt in time for the FIFA World Cup, which begins on June 12, thanks to a number of "emergency actions".

These include improved signs, work to elevators and stairs and cleaning of bathrooms.

Work to improve Terminal 1 is expected to be completed by May.

The concession agreement will run until 2038, with an estimated $5 billion (£2.9 billion/€3.6 billion) to be invested in the airport during that time.

It is forecast that passenger numbers will grow from the current 17 million a year, to 60 million, with a stated aim to equal Changi International Airport in Singapore.