Palonegro International Airport

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Palonegro International Airport

Aeropuerto Internacional de Palonegro
Bucaramanga Palonegro Airport approach PAOC.jpg
Summary
Airport typePublic
OperatorAerocivil
ServesBucaramanga
Elevation AMSL3,902 ft / 1,189 m
Coordinates7°07′35″N 73°11′05″W / 7.12639°N 73.18472°W / 7.12639; -73.18472
Map
BGA is located in Colombia
BGA
BGA
Location of airport in Colombia
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
17/35 2,170 7,119 Asphalt
Statistics (2018)
Air operations41.959
Passenger movement1,944,086
Cargo movement (T)5.599
Sources: GCM[1]

Palonegro International Airport (Spanish: Aeropuerto Internacional de Palonegro) (IATA: BGA, ICAO: SKBG) is an airport located 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) west of Bucaramanga in the Santander Department of Colombia. The airport provides the Bucaramanga Metropolitan Area and surrounding towns with access to international and domestic flights.

The airport was built over the mountains surrounding the Bucaramanga plateau. A mountain road connects the city with the airport, which is located at about 1,200 m above sea level. The airport was built on the site of the Battle of Palonegro, which took place during the Thousand Days War in the early 20th century.

The airport receives flights from major cities in Colombia as well as international flights from Panama City and the United States. The main terminal is 25 minutes from the city in the fast lane of the highway west to Giron. It is currently the eighth largest airport in Colombia in terms of passenger movement.

History[]

Bucaramanga was formerly served by Gómez Niño Airport, which was built by SCADTA in late 1938, when operations began with Junkers F-13 aircraft. The airport was purchased by Colombian Aerodrome Administration in 1954 and was one of the few airports in Colombia that operated two runways simultaneously. Their X-configuration allowed their use depending on the prevailing winds. Avianca and Taxader had its headquarters at the airport.

Gómez Niño was located within the urban area of the city. It had poor conditions for security and air navigation, and was the site of several fatal air accidents. The new Palonegro airport was therefore constructed. The Battle of Palonegro, during the Thousand Days War, had been fought on the site selected. Construction began in 1967, and included major levelling work as the site consisted of a number of hills and canyons up to 60 metres deep. The new airport was opened by the President Misael Pastrana in August 1974, and the inaugural flight took place on a Boeing 727 Avianca, commanded by Captain Alvaro Barrera Gómez. The total cost of construction was $230 million pesos.[citation needed]

Renovation[]

The airport was renovated from 2014 to 2018. The newly renovated airport was inaugurated by president Juan Manuel Santos in February 2018.[2] The cost of the renovation was approximately $7 million dollars.[2] The renovation also increased the capacity from 1.8 to 2.5 million people per year, and consisted of the expansion of the departures hall, check-in areas, baggage claim areas, airline offices, and new jet bridges. [3] The terminal was doubled in square footage, going from 80,000 to nearly 200,000 square feet.[4]

Operations[]

70-80 daily flights are now carried out by scheduled airlines, serving five domestic destinations: ADA, Avianca, Copa Airlines Colombia, EasyFly, Aires and Satena. The airport has international flights to Fort Lauderdale International Airport through Spirit Airlines and Tocumen International Airport through Copa Airlines. Palonegro currently ranks eighth in passenger traffic in the country.

The National Ministry of Transport and Group Palonegro Northeast all control the airport. The airport group comprises the airports in Cúcuta, Barrancabermeja, Valledupar, Santa Marta and Riohacha.

Airlines and destinations[]

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at the airport:

AirlinesDestinations
Avianca Bogotá, Medellin–JMC
Avianca Express Cartagena, Cúcuta, Medellín–Olaya Herrera, Santa Marta
EasyFly Arauca, Barranquilla, Cali, Cartagena, Cúcuta, Medellín–JMC, Medellín–Olaya Herrera, Pereira, Yopal
Gran Colombia de Aviacion Cartagena
Copa Airlines Panama City-Tocumen
LATAM Colombia Bogotá
SATENA Saravena
Spirit Airlines Fort Lauderdale
Viva Air Colombia Bogotá, Medellin–JMC, Santa Marta

Accidents and incidents[]

  • On 14 December 1977, a Vickers Viscount HK-1267 of TAC Colombia was damaged beyond repair while landing. The airplane bounced heavily and then turned into a violent loop, collapsing the nose and landing gear. There were no injuries among the passengers.[5]
  • On 12 April 1999, five members of the National Liberation Army hijacked a Fokker 50 carrying 46 people. They took everyone on the aircraft as hostages into the jungle near Simití. The hostages were then taken to boats on the Magdalena River. Ransom payments were demanded for the hostages. It is unknown what happened to the hostages.[6]
  • On 19 February 2000, a Beechcraft 1900C-1 en route to Camilo Daza International Airport was hijacked by an armed prisoner. The prisoner was not handcuffed. A few minutes after takeoff, the prisoner showed a knife and forced his way into the cockpit. He forced the pilots to land in a small airstrip in the jungle. He then escaped the plane and took one of the guards as a hostage. A military unit tracked down the plane and the hijacker, chasing and killing him shortly afterwards and also releasing the hostage.[7]
  • On 24 December 2014, all passengers were killed when a Cessna 207 belonging to regional airline , carrying 7 people on board, crashed on route from Palonegro International Airport to Jerónimo de Aguayo Airport in Málaga after attempting to return to the airport due to a mechanical failure. According to the investigation, the primary cause of the crash was that the plane was overweight, but was also due to pilot error by flying the plane too low, and failure of the pilot to contact ATC regarding his status.[8] The crash site was near the town of Piedecuesta, about 10 miles away from Bucaramanga. There were no survivors and all the bodies were recovered in the following days.[9]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Airport information for BGA at Great Circle Mapper.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b "Santos inauguró ampliación de Aeropuerto de Bucaramanga". www.vanguardia.com (in Spanish). 2 February 2018. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  3. ^ "Ampliación de Aeropuerto Palonegro de Bucaramanga le daría certificación internacional". www.vanguardia.com (in Spanish). 3 February 2018. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  4. ^ Wight, Andrew (20 March 2014). "Bucaramanga airport expansion ready by 2016: authorities". Colombia Reports. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  5. ^ "Accident description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 8 October 2009.
  6. ^ "Aircraft accident Fokker 50". aviation-safety.net. 12 April 1999. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  7. ^ "Aircraft accident Beechcraft 1900C-1". aviation-safety.net. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  8. ^ "Revelan causas de caída de avioneta que viajaba a Bucaramanga". Vanguardia.com (in Spanish). 20 October 2016. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
  9. ^ "Small passenger plane crashes in northern Colombia, killing 7". BNO News. Archived from the original on 26 December 2014. Retrieved 26 December 2014.

External links[]

Retrieved from ""