Ernesto Cortissoz International Airport
Encyclopedia
Ernesto Cortissoz International Airport is located in the municipality of Soledad
Soledad, Atlántico
Soledad is a municipality in the Colombian department of Atlántico part of the metropolitan area of Barranquilla is 6th in population in Colombia and the 3rd in the Caribbean region, after Barranquilla and Cartagena. It is also the city with the highest population growth in Colombia and in 2005 was...

 12 km (7 mi) from Barranquilla
Barranquilla
Barranquilla is an industrial port city and municipality located in northern Colombia, near the Caribbean Sea. The capital of the Atlántico Department, it is the largest industrial city and port in the Colombian Caribbean region with a population of 1,148,506 as of 2005, which makes it Colombia's...

, the capital of the Atlántico
Atlántico Department
Atlántico is a department of Colombia, located in northern Colombia with the Caribbean sea to its north, the Bolívar Department to its south, and the Magdalena Department to its east separated by the Magdalena River...

 department in Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

. The airport owes its name to one of the pioneers of Colombian aviation, Ernesto Cortissoz.

This airport serves as a focus city for Avianca
Avianca
Avianca S.A. is the flag carrier airline of Colombia since December 5, 1919 when it was initially registered under the name SCADTA. It is headquartered in Bogotá, D.C. with its hub at the El Dorado International Airport...

. It is capable of accepting widebodied aircraft such as the Boeing 747
Boeing 747
The Boeing 747 is a wide-body commercial airliner and cargo transport, often referred to by its original nickname, Jumbo Jet, or Queen of the Skies. It is among the world's most recognizable aircraft, and was the first wide-body ever produced...

, Boeing 767
Boeing 767
The Boeing 767 is a mid-size, wide-body twin-engine jet airliner built by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. It was the manufacturer's first wide-body twinjet and its first airliner with a two-crew glass cockpit. The aircraft features two turbofan engines, a supercritical wing, and a conventional tail...

, and Airbus A340
Airbus A340
The Airbus A340 is a long-range four-engine wide-body commercial passenger jet airliner. Developed by Airbus Industrie,A consortium of European aerospace companies, Airbus is now fully owned by EADS and since 2001 has been known as Airbus SAS. a consortium of European aerospace companies, which is...

. It is the most important airport in terms of infrastructure in the northern part of the country and the first in terms of cargo movements.

Description

The airport is located in the municipality of Soledad, just 12 km from the center of Barranquilla. It is capable of receiving widebody aircraft like the Boeing 747, McDonnell Douglas DC-10 and Airbus A340. In fact, it was once the largest airport in Colombia. Currently, the airport is fifth in number of passengers and cargo room. The airport has two terminals: the domestic, with gates 6-13, and international, with gates 1-5 and 5A. It serves as an international hub for the airline AIRES and as a secondary hub for the airline Avianca during the high season. In July 2007, the Aeronáutica Civil
Special Administrative Unit of Civil Aeronautics
The Special Administrative Unit of Civil Aeronautics is a government agency of the Colombian Ministry of Transport. It is the agency in charge of regulating civil aviation, the aviation industry, and of managing the Colombian airspace. Aerocivil is also in charge of managing and controlling all of...

 gave the airport "open skies" designation, this means that any airline in the world can fly to Barranquilla on any route with any frequency. This action was taken largely to promote tourism as Barranquilla is a key access point to the Caribbean.

History

At the beginning of commercial aviation in Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

, airport construction was in charge of each airline purporting to serve a particular city. Thus construction of major airports in Colombia fell to SCADTA
SCADTA
The Colombian-German Air Transport Society , or SCADTA, was the world's second airline, and the first airline of the American continent, operating from 1919 until World War II. After the war, SCADTA merged with Colombian regional carrier Colombian Air Service , or SACO. Together, SCADTA and SACO...

, including Soledad Airport.

Soledad Airport soon became the main center of operations and maintenance of SCADTA for their domestic operations. International services were operated by Pan American Airways, which maintained scheduled DC-3 service, later supplemented by Boeing 307 Stratoliners, to Panama
Panama
Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...

, Kingston
Kingston, Jamaica
Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley International Airport to the rest of the island...

 and Miami. In 1946 international service at Soledad Airport resumed with Avianca DC-4s, first to Miami and later to Kingston and New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

.

Also in 1946 British South American Airways
British South American Airways
British South American Airways or British South American Airways Corporation was a state-run airline in Britain in the 1940s. It was originally called British Latin American Air Lines Ltd....

 commenced operation at Barranquilla
Barranquilla
Barranquilla is an industrial port city and municipality located in northern Colombia, near the Caribbean Sea. The capital of the Atlántico Department, it is the largest industrial city and port in the Colombian Caribbean region with a population of 1,148,506 as of 2005, which makes it Colombia's...

, using a Lancastrian
Avro Lancastrian
|-See also:-References:NotesBibliography* Franks, Richard A. The Avro Lancaster, Manchester and Lincoln: A Comprehensive Guide for the Modeller. London: SAM Publications, 2000. ISBN 0-9533465-3-6....

 to provide one weekly flight to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 via Bermuda. The service took 26 hours and was referred to as "The Lightning Route to Europe". Also that year a number of special flights with DC-4 aircraft were operated from Barranquilla to Miami and New York under contract with the airline Transocean Airlines. The Aviation Company KLM (Department of the West Indies) also started operating in Barranquilla with DC-4 aircraft, giving passengers the opportunity to connect with scheduled flights to Curaçao
Curaçao
Curaçao is an island in the southern Caribbean Sea, off the Venezuelan coast. The Country of Curaçao , which includes the main island plus the small, uninhabited island of Klein Curaçao , is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands...

, Netherlands Antilles
Netherlands Antilles
The Netherlands Antilles , also referred to informally as the Dutch Antilles, was an autonomous Caribbean country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, consisting of two groups of islands in the Lesser Antilles: Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao , in Leeward Antilles just off the Venezuelan coast; and Sint...

, Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...

, Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...

, Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...

, Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...

 and Trinidad
Trinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...

. In the early fifties LANSA
Líneas Aéreas Nacionales S. A. (Peru)
Lineas Aéreas Nacionales S.A. was a Peruvian commercial airline headquartered in Peru. The airline had two major airline accidents, LANSA Flight 502 and LANSA Flight 508 ....

 inaugurated a service from Barranquilla to Havana
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...

, but never won permission to fly to Miami. However in the sixties TAXADER establish a service to Miami, but only for a few months.

Soledad Airport soon established itself as the premier international airport in Colombia and the first hub in the country. In the mid-50s Avianca built in Soledad one of the most important aviation maintenance shops in Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages  – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...

, two large hangars were built to house several aircraft at once. There were workshop for propellers, hydraulics, tools, electro-mechanical systems and metal rolling. The maintenance facility also included a painting workshop, warehouse of spare parts and a technical school. The workshop was certified by the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) of the United States for repair and overhaul of all types of domestic and foreign aircraft.

With the opening of the El Dorado International Airport
El Dorado International Airport
El Dorado International Airport is an international airport located in Bogotá, Colombia. It is the largest Latin America airport in terms of cargo movements with 593,946 tons and the third in terms of passenger traffic, only behind São Paulo-Guarulhos International Airport and Mexico City's...

 in Bogota
Bogotá
Bogotá, Distrito Capital , from 1991 to 2000 called Santa Fé de Bogotá, is the capital, and largest city, of Colombia. It is also designated by the national constitution as the capital of the department of Cundinamarca, even though the city of Bogotá now comprises an independent Capital district...

 in December 1959, Soledad was relegated to secondary importance in the country. It was only upon the delivery of the first Boeing 727
Boeing 727
The Boeing 727 is a mid-size, narrow-body, three-engine, T-tailed commercial jet airliner, manufactured by Boeing. The Boeing 727 first flew in 1963, and for over a decade more were built per year than any other jet airliner. When production ended in 1984 a total of 1,832 aircraft had been produced...

 to Avianca in 1966 that the runway was extended. However in order to appropriately handle modern jet airliners, and the resulting passenger traffic, there was a need to build a new international airport with a modern terminal, stands, larger runways and taxiways and all necessary facilities for the city of Barranquilla. There was hope that this project would put Barranquilla back on the map as an airport served by major international carriers.

Finally on the afternoon of April 7, 1981, Julio Cesar Turbay, president of the Republic and Alvaro Uribe Velez, Chief of the Aeronáutica Civil
Special Administrative Unit of Civil Aeronautics
The Special Administrative Unit of Civil Aeronautics is a government agency of the Colombian Ministry of Transport. It is the agency in charge of regulating civil aviation, the aviation industry, and of managing the Colombian airspace. Aerocivil is also in charge of managing and controlling all of...

 dedicated Barranquilla's new international airport Ernesto Cortissoz. The new terminal, with an area of 35 thousand square meters, along with its new control tower, apron, taxiways and runway (now 3,000 meters long by 45m wide) were built north of the old Soledad Airport. The design was by architect Aníbal González Moreno-Ripoll and the new terminal was built by the firm Walls, Bridges, Ltda Vasquez. The New terminal had seven domestic gates and four international gates each with their own waiting area. The premises of the former terminal building became the cargo area.

Currently, the company Caribbean Airports S. A. "ACSA" is the operator of airport concession. ACSA was incorporated in the month of December 1996 and its main activity is the administration and economic exploitation of Ernesto Cortissoz International Airport. This status was granted by the State through the renewable concession contract, number 001-CON-97, concluded with the Special Administrative Unit of Civil Aeronautics for a term of 15 years. Under this contract ACSA assumed operations on March 1, 1997. According to the contract award, administration and economic exploitation includes the provision of all airport services, maintenance and management of the terminal, runway, ramp, airport facilities, visual aids for approach and access roads. Aeronáutica Civil
Special Administrative Unit of Civil Aeronautics
The Special Administrative Unit of Civil Aeronautics is a government agency of the Colombian Ministry of Transport. It is the agency in charge of regulating civil aviation, the aviation industry, and of managing the Colombian airspace. Aerocivil is also in charge of managing and controlling all of...

 reserved management and responsibility for control and monitoring functions of en route air traffic and the proper functioning of air navigation aids, including approach, communications and other equipment intended and necessary for the proper air traffic control.

Ernesto Cortissoz International Airport is named after one of the most important Colombian aviation pioneers. Ernesto Cortissoz was an entrepreneur, born in Barranquilla, which along with four Colombians
Colombians
Colombians may refer to:* Citizens of Colombia, a country in South America.* Ethnic Colombians** Colombian people, persons from Colombia or of Colombian ancestry...

 and three Germans
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 founded SCADTA
SCADTA
The Colombian-German Air Transport Society , or SCADTA, was the world's second airline, and the first airline of the American continent, operating from 1919 until World War II. After the war, SCADTA merged with Colombian regional carrier Colombian Air Service , or SACO. Together, SCADTA and SACO...

 in December 1919. On June 8, 1924 while traveling in the Junkers F.13
Junkers F.13
The Junkers F.13 was the world's first all-metal transport aircraft, developed in Germany at the end of World War I. It was an advanced cantilever-wing monoplane, with enclosed accommodation for four passengers. Over 300 were sold...

 "Tolima" together with other executives of the company, he died as a result of one of the first plane crashes in the country.

Barranquilla International Airport is a pride for the citizens and has the potential to continue growing and become the main cargo hub in the region.

Field of Flight

The runway has a length of 3,000 m and a width of 45 m. The approaches to both ends of the runway are categorized for instrument flight operations in precision category I.

The airport has a taxiway parallel to the runway in order to reach both ends. The three turn-offs near the center of the runway connect with the taxiway and the ramp, they are 22.5 m wide and are made of concrete.

Ramps

The airport has three ramps for parking aircraft, they are for use by commercial passenger aircraft, cargo aircraft and military aircraft. The ramp for commercial passenger aircraft is located opposite the passenger terminal building and has 16 parking spaces. The Cargo ramp is located north of the passenger terminal, near the head of runway 23.

Passenger Terminal

The airport has one passenger terminal building to handle all of the airport's commercial traffic. There are 36 check posts, a series of shops, including a Duty-free shop
Duty-free shop
Duty-free shops are retail outlets that are exempt from the payment of certain local or national taxes and duties, on the requirement that the goods sold will be sold to travelers who will take them out of the country...

, and passenger cafes and restaurant. There are two restricted areas for passengers, depending on the destination of the flight (national or international). On the side for national flights are located the gates 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13, each with a waiting area for passengers. For access to aircraft, four gates (6, 7, 8 and 9) have boarding bridges , each with two degrees of freedom.

In the international area are the gates 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, each with a waiting area for passengers. The aircraft access is via jet bridges except for gate 1. The bridges at gates 2, 3 and 5 are mobile with three degrees of freedom, while the jet bridge at gate 4 is similar to those installed in the national wing. Passengers claim their luggage in a room used for that purpose on the first level, it has two conveyor belts. International passengers receive their luggage in this same room after passing through the immigration
Immigration
Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...

 area. After leaving the terminal building you can access the public area which houses the offices of rental car companies and the taxi waiting area.

Cargo Terminal

The Cargo Terminal is located northeast of the passenger terminal and has a floor area of 9,000 m², it is the former passenger terminal building. The loading dock can accommodate up to two aircraft simultaneously. The current use of the cargo terminal does not exceed 30%.

Passenger Terminal

Incidents

  • On March 17, 1995, An Intercontinental
    Intercontinental de Aviación
    Intercontinental de Aviación was an airline based in Bogotá, Colombia. It operated domestic services and flights to neighbouring countries. Its main base was located at El Dorado International Airport, Bogotá, with a secondary hub at Alfonso Bonilla Aragón International Airport) in Cali.- History...

     DC-9 was destroyed by fire while it was parked in the apron, no one was on the plane.
  • On November 19, 2006, A DC-10 operated by Cielos Airlines
    Cielos Airlines
    Centurion Air Cargo, commonly known by its old name Cielos del Peru, is a cargo airline based in Callao, Lima, Peru. It operates scheduled, ad hoc and contract charter domestic and international cargo services. Its main base is Jorge Chávez International Airport, Lima.- History :The airline was...

     overran the runway while landing in bad weather, All 6 crew were injured.
  • On November 21, 2006, Avianca
    Avianca
    Avianca S.A. is the flag carrier airline of Colombia since December 5, 1919 when it was initially registered under the name SCADTA. It is headquartered in Bogotá, D.C. with its hub at the El Dorado International Airport...

     Flight 9522 was outbound from Bogotá
    Bogotá
    Bogotá, Distrito Capital , from 1991 to 2000 called Santa Fé de Bogotá, is the capital, and largest city, of Colombia. It is also designated by the national constitution as the capital of the department of Cundinamarca, even though the city of Bogotá now comprises an independent Capital district...

     also overran the runway. All 135 people survived.
  • On August 23, 2008, Aires
    AIRES
    Aerovías de Integración Regional S.A. is a low-cost airline headquartered in the AIRES Hangar in Bogotá, Colombia. It operates scheduled regional domestic and international services, as well as a domestic cargo service...

     Flight 0051 was outbound from Curaçao
    Curaçao
    Curaçao is an island in the southern Caribbean Sea, off the Venezuelan coast. The Country of Curaçao , which includes the main island plus the small, uninhabited island of Klein Curaçao , is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands...

    overran the runway because a problem with a landing gear. All 25 people survived.

External links




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