Ernesto Cortissoz International Airport

Ernesto Cortissoz International Airport (Spanish: Aeropuerto Internacional Ernesto Cortissoz, IATA: BAQ^[2], ICAO: SKBQ) is an international airport serving the area of Barranquilla,^[1] the capital city of the Atlántico department in Colombia. The airport is located in the suburban municipality of Soledad. It owes its name to one of the pioneers of Colombian aviation, Ernesto Cortissoz.

The airport serves as a focus city for Avianca, the flag carrier of Colombia. It is capable of accepting widebody aircraft such as the Boeing 747, Boeing 767, and Airbus A350. 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, 12 km (7 mi) from the center of Barranquilla. It is capable of receiving widebody aircraft such as the Boeing 747, McDonnell Douglas DC-10, and Airbus A350. In fact, it was once the largest airport in Colombia. Currently, the airport is fifth in number of passengers and cargo in the country. The airport has two terminals: the domestic terminal, with gates 6-13, and international, with gates 1-5 and 5A. In July 2007, the

History

At the dawn of commercial aviation in Colombia, airport construction was delegated to airlines wishing to serve that particular city. Thus, the construction of major airports in Colombia mainly fell to SCADTA, among these being Soledad International Airport.

Soledad Airport soon became the main center of operations and maintenance of

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

Also, in the early 1950s, a unique system was built for loading and unloading passengers and cargo from

With the opening of the El Dorado International Airport in Bogotá in December 1959, Soledad was relegated to secondary importance in the country. It was only upon the delivery of the first Boeing 727 to Avianca in 1966 that the runway was extended. However, in order to appropriately handle modern jet airliners, and the resulting increase in passenger traffic, there became a need to build a new international airport with a more modern terminal, more stands, and larger runways and taxiways. 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,

Formerly, the company Caribbean Airports S. A. "ACSA" was 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 include the provision of all airport services, maintenance, and management of the terminal, runway, ramp, airport facilities, visual aids for approach and access roads.

Ernesto Cortissoz International Airport is named after one of the most important Colombian aviation pioneers. Ernesto Cortissoz Alvarez-Correa was an entrepreneur, born in Barranquilla, which along with four

Physical characteristics

Field

The runway is made of asphalt and has a length of 3,000 m (9,842 ft) and a width of 45 m (148 ft). 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 terminal is currently undergoing renovations. Renovations were to be complete somewhere around the first quarter of 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been moved. 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

In the international area are gates 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, each with a waiting area for passengers. Aircraft are accessed via

• On March 17, 1995, an
  DC-9 was destroyed by fire while it was parked in the apron, no one was on the plane.^[5]
• On November 19, 2006, a
  DC-10 operated by Cielos Airlines
  overran the runway while landing in bad weather, All 6 crew were injured.
• On November 21, 2006, Avianca Flight 9522, which was outbound from Bogotá, also overran the runway. All 135 people survived.
• On August 23, 2008,
  Aires Flight 0051 was outbound from Curaçao overran the runway because a problem with a landing gear. All 25 people survived.^[6]