Olaya Herrera Airport

Olaya Herrera Airport
Aeropuerto Olaya Herrera

IATA: EOHICAO: SKMD

EOH
Location of airport in Colombia

Summary
Airport type Commercial
Operator AirPlan
Serves Medellín
Location Medellin
Elevation AMSL 1,505 m / 4,940 ft
Coordinates 06°13′11″N 75°35′25″W / 6.21972°N 75.59028°W / 6.21972; -75.59028
Website www.airplan.aero
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
02/20 2,510 8,234 Paved
Statistics (2009)
Passengers movement 1.125.253
Cargo movement 5.498 T
Air operations 82.570

Enrique Olaya Herrera Airport (Spanish: Aeropuerto Olaya Herrera) (IATA: EOH, ICAO: SKMD) is an airport located in Medellín, Colombia, which serves regional and domestic flights. Additionally, the airport is used by general aviation and features several hangars for charters. Olaya Herrera is the second busiest airport in Colombia by number of flights.

Today, it is considered the main regional airport of the country due to the large number of scheduled and charter flights of this type operated to and from the airport. It was formerly known as Medellin International Airport prior to the construction of José María Córdova International Airport, located in the municipality of Rionegro, Antioquia, 29 km east of the city of Medellin. Between the two airports of Medellín, there were more than 4.7 million passengers per year, which makes it the second busiest passenger city in Colombia after Bogotá.

History

Enrique Olaya Herrera Airport

Don Gonzalo Mejia saw an opportunity for the development of an airport in Medellin given that the topography of the city made land transport to and from the area difficult, and the nearest airport was in Puerto Berrio.

He secured financing from wealthy businessmen of the time, chose the land where the airport sits today and overcame obstacles imposed by the local government. He formed the UMCA (Urabá Central Airways Medellin) and established it as a subsidiary of Pan American Airways, which at the time had the outlook of becoming the dominant player in global aviation. The airport opened on July 5, 1932, and was named after the then president of Colombia, Enrique Olaya Herrera, who supported Don Gonzalo Mejía and his idea of an airport in Medellin.

In the 1940s the city was growing rapidly and new aircraft of the time required better facilities. Therefore, Gonzalo Mejia, signed a contract in 1945 for the expansion of the runway and the existing facilities, a work that was completed on May 1, 1947. In the 1970s, the airport was again saturated and unable to meet the demand, so the construction of new and larger José María Córdova International Airport in the nearby locality of Rionegro was announced. This resulted in the closure of Olaya Herrera Airport and the reallocation of its land to a park. Passengers, however, asked the airport not be closed, and on April 11, 1986, the airport began operations again. In that same year, the airport saw some improvements as a result of the visit of Pope John Paul II to the city. It also inspired the name for the park which remained on the western portion of the grounds of the airport: the Aeroparque Juan Pablo II. In 1992 Aerocivil ruled that the airport was to be used strictly for regional flights.

It was also one of the mainstays of carrier ACES from its beginnings to its demise in August 2003. Today it is an airport with heavy use and constant growth (second in number of operations in Colombia) and was declared a national monument on October 19, 1995, for its historical, cultural and architectural value for the city of Medellin and Colombia. In 2008, the national government gave the airport along with 5 others in Colombia under concession to operating company Airplan,[1] which is conducting a series of renovations to the terminal (at the time of writing they are ongoing).

Structure and Capacity

The airport still retains its classification International Airport even though it only operates domestic and regional flights. The runway is 2,508 m long and is at an altitude of 1,506 MSL. Currently there are restrictions on the type of aircraft operating from the airport due to its classification as regional airport: commercial flights can operate on aircraft of up to 50 passengers, with the exception of Satena that operates Embraer 170 aircraft carrying up to 76 passengers.

The passenger terminal has two waiting rooms with access to the main platform (the latter has a capacity of over 30 aircraft). It also has a shopping area with banking establishments, offices and shops, a food court, 11 double counters, airline check-in, a smoking room, and close connection with the Plaza Gardel.

It has large LCD screens provided by Scala to give information of flights, and times of arrival and departure of aircraft.

The airport has 111 hangars located south of the terminal, where the executive offices of several commercial, charter, and cargo airlines, as well as flight schools can also be found. Aires Airlines built a hangar on the north end of the airport in order to service aircraft and reaffirm their commitment to Medellin and the new base of operations at the airport. Flight schools, Aviation Antioqueña Academy and the School of Aviation The Falcons, two of the most recognized in Colombia, operate from the hangar area as well.

Along with five others, the airport was given in concession to private operator Airplan to manage. The proposed works include a total refurbishment of the terminal, the construction of a cargo terminal, repairing the track platform, implementing new security systems, the expansion and refurbishment of waiting rooms and baggage claim belts, construction of a new control tower on the west side, construction of a business aviation terminal that will serve domestic and international flights of this type (with the intention of encouraging the return of international flights to the airport), new shopping areas, among others.

Aerolínea de Antioquia has its headquarters on the airport property and has six hangars to store and perform maintenance on their planes.[2] West Caribbean Airways, when it existed, had its corporate headquarters, operational center, and call center in Hangar 73 on the airport grounds.[3]

Modernization

With an investment of more than US$27 million, Airplan began the transformation under the parameters defined in its concession contract with the Aeronáutuica Public Establecimeinto Olaya Herrera. The modernization plan began in March 2009 and ends in 2014.

The main works to be advanced at the airport are:

Among the main objectives are to ensure aviation safety, the comfort of passengers, and meeting the requirements of ICAO, Aerocivil and IATA. It is worth mentioning that the Olaya Herrera Airport operational spaces have Category B, according to IATA. The IATA standard of service is the assessment that relates different flows and delays with the space available in each area of a passenger terminal, combisystems level A (excellent) to F nivel (collapsed), with four intermediate levels. Therefore, to achieve the required nievel prevalence should be given to the Aeras for each passenger.

Airlines and destinations

AirlinesDestinations
ADA Acandí, Apartadó, Armenia, Bahía Solano, Bucaramanga, Capurganá, Caucasia, Condoto, Corozal, Cúcuta, El Bagre, Manizales, Montería, Nuquí, Pereira, Quibdó, Remedios, Tolú
Aexpa Bahía Solano, Condoto, Nuquí, Quibdó
EasyFly Apartadó, Bucaramanga, Cúcuta, Montería, Quibdó
Satena Apartadó, Bahía Solano, Bogotá, Bucaramanga, Quibdó
Searca Capurganá
Seasonal: Condoto, Quibdó

Accidents and incidents

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Enrique Olaya Herrera Airport.

References

  1. Gallo Machado, Gustavo (24 June 2008). "Airplan llega al Olaya" [Airplan arrives at Olaya]. El Colombiano (in Spanish) (Medellin). Retrieved 2015-01-06.
  2. "Contáctenos." Aerolínea de Antioquia. Retrieved on January 26, 2011. "www.ada-aero.com Aeropuerto Olaya Herrera Medellín-Colombia "
  3. "PREGUNTAS FRECUENTES WEST CARIBBEAN AIRWAYS." West Caribbean Airways. August 11, 2003. Retrieved on January 26, 2011. "6. ¿Dónde quedan ubicadas las oficinas de West Caribbean Airways? Las oficinas principales, es decir, la sede administrativa, operaciones, el área comercial y el call center están ubicados en el hangar 73 del aeroparque Olaya Herrera."
  4. "ASN Aircraft accident Ford 5-AT-D Tri-Motor C-31 Medellín-Enrique Olaya Herrera Airport (EOH)". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
  5. "GRAVISIMO ACCIDENTE SUFRIO UN AVION DE SAM AYER EN MEDELLIN" [An aircraft from SAM suffered very serious accident yesterday in Medellin]. El Tiempo (in Spanish) (13823). 2 March 1950. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
  6. "Cayó ayer cerca de Medellín un avión de carga" [A cargo plane crashed yesterday close to Medellin]. El Tiempo (in Spanish) (14278). 14 June 1951. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
  7. "Accident description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
  8. "ASN Aircraft accident de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter 300 HK-2602 Medellín". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
  9. "HK-1504 Accident description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 21 June 2010.
  10. "PNC-0211 Hull-loss description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 21 June 2010.
  11. "Ocho heridos deja el estallido accidental de una granada en un avión policial en Colombia" [Eight wounded after accidental explosion of a granade in colombian Police aircraft] (in Spanish). Ultima Hora. 18 February 2009. Retrieved 22 June 2010.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, March 10, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.