Belo Horizonte/Pampulha – Carlos Drummond de Andrade Airport

Belo Horizonte/Pampulha–Carlos Drummond de Andrade Airport Aeroporto de Belo Horizonte/Pampulha–Carlos Drummond de Andrade
Carlos Drummond de Andrade Airport and Pampulha Lake
IATA: PLU – ICAO: SBBH
Summary
Airport type	Public/Military
Operator	Infraero
Serves	Belo Horizonte
Focus city for	Azul Brazilian Airlines
Elevation AMSL	789 m / 2,589 ft
Coordinates	19°51′07″S 043°57′02″W / 19.85194°S 43.95056°WCoordinates: 19°51′07″S 043°57′02″W / 19.85194°S 43.95056°W
Website	Infraero PLU
Map
PLU Location in Brazil
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 13/31 2,538 8,327 Asphalt
Statistics (2013)
Passengers 989,599 Aircraft Operations 65,487 Metric tonnes of cargo 0
Statistics: Infraero[1] Sources: Airport Website,[2] ANAC[3]

Belo Horizonte/Pampulha–Carlos Drummond de Andrade Airport (IATA: PLU, ICAO: SBBH) is an airport serving Belo Horizonte, Brazil, located in the neighborhood of Pampulha. Since December 16, 2004 the airport is also named after the Minas Gerais-born poet Carlos Drummond de Andrade (1902–1987).^[4]

The airport is operated by Infraero.

History

Pampulha Airport was opened in 1933 as a support facility for the passenger flights operated by the Brazilian Air Force between Rio de Janeiro and Fortaleza. The first commercial operation started in 1936, when Panair do Brasil was granted a concession to fly between Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte.

In 1943 the runway was extended to 1,500m x 45m, in 1953 to 1,700m, and finally in 1961 to 2,505m.

Since 1973 the airport has been operated by Infraero.

With the great increase of traffic at Pampulha Airport, the facility became too small and unable to handle all operations. For this reason, the new Tancredo Neves International Airport was built in the adjoining municipality of Confins. The new facility was opened in 1984.

However, due to the long distance between Belo Horizonte and Confins, Pampulha remained the airport of choice for most airlines, eventually becoming overcrowded, while Confins was under-used. In order to revert this scenario, in March 2005 the government of the state of Minas Gerais with the support of agencies of the Federal government decided to restrict Pampulha to operations of aircraft with capacity of up to 50 passengers.^[5] In the months thereafter, most operations were forced to move to Confins and Pampulha gained a new vocation as a hub for regional flights and general aviation.

Airlines and destinations

Airlines	Destinations
Flyways	Ipatinga, Rio de Janeiro–Galeão, Uberaba
Passaredo Linhas Aéreas	Ribeirão Preto, Porto Seguro

Accidents and incidents

• 31 May 1954: Transportes Aéreos Nacional, a Douglas DC-3/C-47A-80-DL, registration PP-ANO, en route from Governador Valadares to Belo Horizonte-Pampulha, strayed off course and struck the Cipó mountain range in cloudy conditions. All 19 passengers and crew died.^[6][7]

Access

The airport is located 8 km (5 mi) from downtown Belo Horizonte.

Future developments

On 31 August 2009, Infraero unveiled a BRL8.4 million (USD4.4 million; EUR3.1 million) investiment plan to upgrade Pampulha Airport focusing on the preparations for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, which will be held in Brazil, Belo Horizonte being one of the venue cities. The investment would be distributed as follows:^[8]

• New control tower. Value 5.6 million. Estimated completion: originally November 2010; postponed to the end of 2012^[9]
• Upgrade of general aviation hangars. Value 1.2 million. Estimated completion: July 2013
• Enlargement of the apron. Value 1.6 million. Estimated completion: July 2013

See also

• List of airports in Brazil

References

1. "Movimento operacional da rede Infraero de janeiro a dezembro de 2013" (PDF) (in Portuguese). Infraero. February 4, 2014. Retrieved June 23, 2014.
2. "Airport Official Website" (in Portuguese). Infraero.
3. "Lista de aeródromos públicos" (in Portuguese). ANAC.
4. "Lei n˚11.002, de 16 de dezembro de 2004" (in Portuguese). Lei Direto. 17 December 2004. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
5. "Portaria n 189/DGAC, de 8 de março de 2005" (PDF) (in Portuguese). Ministério da Aeronáutica; Departamento de Aviação Civil. 10 March 2005. Retrieved 16 May 2011.
6. "Accident description PT-ANO". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
7. Germano da Silva, Carlos Ari César (2008). "Serra do Cipó". O rastro da bruxa: história da aviação comercial brasileira no século XX através dos seus acidentes 1928-1996 (in Portuguese) (2 ed.). Porto Alegre: EDIPUCRS. pp. 132–139. ISBN 978-85-7430-760-2.
8. Rittner, Daniel; Braga, Paulo Victor (31 August 2009). "Infraero vai gastar R$5 bi em reforma de aeroportos". Valor Econômico (in Portuguese). pp. A4.
9. Schapochnik, Claudio (1 June 2011). "Pampulha (BH) terá nova torre de controle, diz Infraero" (in Portuguese). Panrotas. Retrieved 1 June 2011.

External links

• Airport information for SBBH at World Aero Data. Data current as of October 2006.Source: DAFIF.
• Airport information for SBBH at Great Circle Mapper. Source: DAFIF (effective October 2006).
• Current weather for SBBH at NOAA/NWS
• Accident history for PLU at Aviation Safety Network
• Pampulha-Carlos Drummond de Andrade Airport Photo Archive at airliners.net