El Dorado International Airport

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El Dorado International Airport
IATA: BOG - ICAO: SKBO
Summary
Airport type Civil / Military
Operator Opain
Serves Bogotá
Elevation AMSL 8,361 ft (2,548 m)
Coordinates 04°42′05,74″N, 74°08′49,01″W
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
13L/31R
12,467
3,800
Asphalt
13R/31L
12,467
3,800
Asphalt
El Dorado airport
El Dorado airport
Runway 13R/31L
Runway 13R/31L
AeroSucre aircraft parked at the Domestic Cargo Terminals.
AeroSucre aircraft parked at the Domestic Cargo Terminals.

El Dorado International Airport (IATA: BOG, ICAO: SKBO) is an airport located in Bogotá, Colombia. It is the largest Latin American airport in terms of cargo movements[1] and the third in terms of passenger traffic[2] as well as the largest airport in Colombia and the main international and domestic air gateway in the country.

Contents

[edit] Facilities

El Dorado is, politically and economically, the most important airport in Colombia and serves as the nation's primary international gateway. It handles all domestic and international flights into Bogotá, D.C. and boasts the world's third largest landing field.[3] El Dorado is located about 15 km (9.3 mi) west of the city center.

The airport has two passenger terminals, the Puente Aéreo Terminal (Air Bridge Terminal, in English) which opened in 1981, is a privately owned terminal that exclusively serves only Avianca, its subsidiary SAM's, domestic and regional flights. The main terminal, El Dorado, named after the famed legend of El Dorado, was built in 1959 and handles all international arrivals, as well as all other airlines and all of Avianca's international flights. Despite a popular misconception in Colombia, the Puente Aéreo Terminal does not have its own runways, nor is it a separate airport, but rather uses the same runways and facilities and operates as a second terminal; buses run frequently between both terminals.

[edit] History

The El Dorado Passenger Terminal was designed during the government of General Gustavo Rojas Pinilla. Its construction began in 1955 and entered in service at the end of 1959, replacing the interim terminal, and joining other portions of the then brand new airport. The new terminal consisted of several taxiways, maintenance platforms, parking areas, a cellar, passenger halls, Mezzanine areas and other amenities. Its second floor consisted of the departues area with, executive waiting rooms, and restaurants. The Third floor consisted mainly of offices for the airlines and the offices of other airport related services. The fourth floor held the Offices of Management and Dependencies of the managing company which accounted through to the Fifth floor. The Sixth floor contained mainly the dependencies of meteorology and power station of air navigation aids of the ECA. The Seventh floor held the route control facilities for the runways and taxiways, and the Eighth floor contained air traffic radar controllers. The Ninth floor contained the airport's electrical maintenance and offices, and the Tenth floor held the control tower and area air traffic controllers.

In 1973, the airport hit a milestone by serving nearly three million passengers, and processing nearly 5 million pieces of luggage. That year turned out to be one of most prosperous for the industry of aviation, registering high passenger growth in both domestic and international loads. In the year, the necessity for a second runway at El Dorado was expressed under concerned that the explosive growth would lead to overcongestion in due time.

In 1981, Avianca undertook the construction of the Puente Aéreo Terminal inaugurated by President Julio César Turbay Ayala, to serve its important, high density flights from Bogotá to Cali, Medellín, Miami and New York City.

Over the past few years, the baggage claim areas has been extended on both the northern and southern portions of the airport, and the Departure lounges towards the west have also been greatly expanded.

[edit] Puente Aéreo Terminal

The Puente Aéreo Terminal has been Avianca's exclusive terminal since 1981. Initially, the terminal exclusively served passengers on the Miami, New York-JFK, Cali, Medellín, Pasto, and Montería routes. Currently, the Puente Aéreo Terminal operates all of Avianca, and its subsidiary SAM's, regional and domestic services from Bogotá. The terminal handles a total of more than 90 daily flights which carry up to 8,000 passengers per day. Some of the benefits of the Puente Aéreo Terminal include record connecting times between domestic flights. The terminal also provides additional services for travelers and visitors, such as access to shopping facilities.

[edit] Avianca's main hub

On December 10, 1998, Avianca officially opened its hub in Bogotá, offering an estimated 6,000 possible connections per week, including greater numbers of frequencies, schedules and destinations served. Thus, the airline began to profit from the geographical location, population, and infrastructure of Colombia’s capital city in order to benefit the Country, as well as international travellers. Connections between domestic and international destinations are currently operated directly and through codesharing agreements with airlines such as Delta Air Lines, Mexicana, Lacsa (part of Grupo Taca), Iberia and Air Canada.

Operations out of the Bogotá hub allow travelers to easily connect:

The hub also contains express factors to make transits easier, such as exclusive check-in counters for travelers in transit, as well as buses for the internal transportation between Puente Aéreo and El Dorado terminals, and a special lounge for international transit passengers to avoid having to go through Colombian customs and immigration between transits.

[edit] Airport expansion

On August 24, 2006, the Colombian government awarded a contract for a viable external investment of at least 650 million USD for the airport's expansion and modernization to Opain (acronym of Operadora Aeroportuaria Internacional), a consortium composed of Colombian construction / engineering firms and the Swiss Flughafen Zürich AG. Opain will also operate the airport for the next 20 years.

Construction is set to begin in early 2007 and to end in 2011. Current plans include upgrading to a more reliable infrastructure for passengers as well as airlines, and building larger and more able terminals and cargo hangars.

[edit] Passenger airlines

[edit] El Dorado Terminal

[edit] Domestic Concourse

The domestic concourse has 11 gates.

  • AeroRepública (Barranquilla, Bucaramanga, Cali, Cartagena, Cúcuta, Leticia, Medellín, Montería, Pereira, San Andrés Island, Santa Marta)
  • AIRES (Armenia, Florencia, Ibagué, Ipiales, Manizales, Neiva, Pasto, Popayán, Puerto Asís, Quibdó, Villavicencio, Yopal)
  • SATENA (Apartadó, Arauca, Medellín-Olaya Herrera, Pasto, Providencia, Puerto Inírida, Puerto Carreño, San José del Guavire, Saravena, San Andrés Island, Villavicencio)

[edit] International Concourse

The international concourse has 9 gates.

Mexicana in the Dorado International
Mexicana in the Dorado International

[edit] Puente Aéreo Terminal

The Puente Aéreo Terminal has 14 gates. It operates all the regional and domestic services of Avianca and its subsidiary SAM from Bogotá. 18 destinations in the country can be reached from the Puente Aéreo:

  • Avianca (Armenia, Barrancabermeja, Barranquilla, Bucaramanga, Cali, Cartagena, Cúcuta, Ibagué, Manizales, Medellín, Montería, Neiva, Pasto, Pereira, San Andrés Island, Santa Marta)
    • Avianca operated by SAM (Armenia, Barranquilla, Bucaramanga, Cali, Cartagena, Medellín, Montería, Pasto, Pereira, Riohacha, San Andrés Island, Santa Marta, Valledupar)

[edit] Former Airlines

[edit] Charter services

[edit] Cargo airlines

[edit] Domestic Terminal

[edit] International Terminal

[edit] References

  1. ^ 463,000 tons (2003)
  2. ^ 8,326,000 passengers (2005); 5,819,028 domestic passengers; 2,506,972 international passengers
  3. ^ 6.9 km² (1,705 acres) of land

[edit] External links


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