EL DORADO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

'El Dorado International Airport' is an international airport located in Bogotá, Colombia. It is the largest Latin American airport in terms of cargo movements 526,899 tons (2006) and the fifth in terms of passenger traffic, transporting 9,046,615 passengers in 2006; as well as the largest airport in Colombia and the main international (2,788,313 passengers) and domestic (6,258,302 passengers) air gateway in the country, serving as an important hub for Avianca (the national flag carrier of Colombia) and AeroRepública. It is managed by 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.
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 6.9 km² (1,705 acres) of land. El Dorado is located about 15 km (9.3 mi) west of the city center. The airport enjoys a connection with Avenida El Dorado (Calle 26) one of Bogotá's fastest runways which runs across the city in the east-west axis onto the city center and permanent public transportation (buses and taxis). It is expected that in year 2008, will start the construction of the TransMilenio, which will connect the airport with the massive transportation system of the city.

Contents

Facilities

History

Avianca's main hub

Airport expansion

Passenger airlines

El Dorado Terminal

Domestic concourse

International concourse

Puente Aéreo Terminal

Charter services

Cargo airlines

Domestic Terminal

International Terminal

See also

External links

Facilities

The airport has two passenger terminals, 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. Check-in counters, ticket counters, immigration office and customs are located on the lower level while information boards, information office, waiting rooms and emigration are located on the upper level.
The main building has two concourses, the national concourse and the international concourse. The national concourse has 11 gates and additional 5 for regional flights. The international concourse has 9 gates. This main building has a passenger area of 54,000 m² (581,251 square feet) and provides different services such as travel agencies, drug stores, restaurants and cafeterias, book stores and craft shops, ATM machines and Duty Free shops. Telecom offers telephone service for international and national calls, as well as fax and Internet service. At the national and international arrivals, passengers can find tourist information offices and transportation services within the city.
The second terminal is the Puente Aéreo Terminal (''Air Bridge Terminal'', in English) which opened in 1981, is a privately owned terminal that exclusively serves Avianca's and its subsidiary SAM's, domestic and regional flights. Initially, the terminal exclusively served passengers on the Miami, New York-JFK, Cali, Medellín, Pasto, and Montería routes. Newly renovated (Oct, 2006), after an investment of 7.5 million dollars El Puente Aéreo has become the most modern domestic terminal in Latin America. The terminal handles a total of more than 120 daily flights which carry up to 12,000 passengers per day. It adds, as well, a constructed area of 4,416 m² (47,533 square feet) and 14 domestic gates. 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, national and international calls, taxi services, ATM machines, restaurants and fast food restaurants and book shops.

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 departures 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.
In 1990, the Aeronáutica Civil de Colombia (Civil Aeronautic Administrative Special Unit - AEROCIVIL) moved to the third floor in the main building. During this same year, the Centro de Estudios Aeronáuticos (Aeronautical studies center) was constructed and at the east part of the airport the building for the Centro Nacional de Aeronavegación (National center for aeronavigation).
In 1998, the second runway was officially opened.
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, adding more restaurants and shops.

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:

★ Between Domestic Destinations (such as Medellín to Cartagena).

★ From a domestic destination to an international destination (Such as Bucaramanga to México City).

★ From an international destination to a domestic city (Such as Miami to Bucaramanga).

★ Between two international destinations (Such as Madrid to Lima).

★ and allowing for simpler codeshare connections (such as Toronto to Cali with Air Canada and Avianca).
The hub also features facilities for easy transits, 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.

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.
The expansion plan includes:

★ The construction of a new international terminal and the modernization of the current terminal (future national terminal) will have a total of 133,875 m² (1,441,018 square feet) for passengers, 56 gates, 144 Check-in counters and 58,924 parking spaces. The airport will be equipped with the most modern baggage handle technology as well as flight information systems and security and guarding mechanisms. The airport will have a capacity of 16 million passengers a year.

★ The construction of a new cargo terminal, which will allow easier access for trucks, 68,000 m² (731,945 square feet) for storage, 7,000 m² (75,347 square feet) for offices and 26 parking positions for planes.

★ The construction of a new office building annexed to the new international terminal, the building will be 6 floors tall and will have an area of 4,500 m² (48,437 square feet).

★ The construction of a new maintenance area (88,000 m² /947,224 square feet) with an appropriate turbine tester and the sound barriers that are necessary to avoid noise pollution.
All the buildings will be earthquake-resistant.
On February 7, 2007 the national government accepted the proposal from Opain to demolish the old terminal and build a new one instead of modernizing it.
The Civil Aviation Agency (Aeronaútica Civil) and the Department of Transportation (Ministerio de Transporte) have to make a decision over a proposal made by Opain, in which the domestic and international cargo areas are to be placed at the west part of the complex, making it easy for trucks and cargo vehicles to access the cargo areas without having to go into the city. This proposal will allow as well, further expansions of the passenger terminal.
Construction is set to begin on the September 19 2007 and end in 2011.

Passenger airlines

El Dorado Terminal

Domestic concourse

The domestic concourse has 11 gates.

★ AeroRepública (Barranquilla, Bucaramanga, Cali, Cartagena, Cúcuta, Leticia, Medellín-Cordova, Montería, Pereira, San Andrés Island, Santa Marta)

★ AIRES (Armenia, Florencia, Ibagué, Ipiales, Manizales, Neiva, Pasto, Popayán, Puerto Asís, Quibdó, Villavicencio, Yopal)

★ SATENA (Apartadó, Arauca, Buenaventura, Cali, Corozal, Medellín-Olaya Herrera, Neiva, Pasto, Popayán, Providencia, Puerto Asis, Puerto Inírida, Puerto Carreño, Quibdó, San José del Guavire, Saravena, San Andrés Island, Valledupar, Villavicencio)

International concourse

The international concourse has 9 gates.

★ AeroGal (Quito, Guayaquil)

★ Aerolíneas Argentinas (Buenos Aires-Ezeiza, Caracas, Mexico City)

★ AeroRepública (Panama City, Porlamar [seasonal], Punta Cana [seasonal])

★ AIRES (Fort Lauderdale [begins 2008], Maracaibo)

★ Air Canada (Toronto-Pearson)

★ Air Comet (Madrid)

★ Air France (Paris-Charles de Gaulle)

★ American Airlines (Miami)

★ Avianca (Alicante, Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Cancún [seasonal], Caracas, Fort Lauderdale, Frankfurt [begins 2008], Guayaquil, Lima, Los Angeles, London-Heathrow [begins 2008], Madrid, Mexico City, Miami, Montego Bay [seasonal], New York-JFK, Oranjestad, Panama City, Paris-Charles de Gaulle [begins 2008], Porlamar, Punta Cana, Quito, Saint Maarten [seasonal], Santiago de Chile, São Paulo-Guarulhos, Varadero [seasonal], Willemstad)

★
★ SAM (Guayaquil, Oranjestad, Valencia (VN), Willemstad)

★ Continental Airlines (Houston-Intercontinental, Newark)

★ Copa Airlines (Panama City)

★ Cubana de Aviación (Havana)

★ Delta Air Lines (Atlanta, New York/JFK [subject to government approval])

★ Dutch Antilles Express (Willemstad)

★ Iberia (Madrid)

★ LAN Airlines (Lima, Miami, Santiago de Chile)

★
★ LAN Peru (Caracas, Lima, Quito)

★ Lufthansa (Caracas, Frankfurt) [begins November 30, 2007]

★ Mexicana de Aviación (Mexico City)

★ TACA (Guatemala City) [begins January 2008]

★
★ TACA Perú (Lima)

★
★ Lacsa (San José (CR))

★ Varig (Manaus, São Paulo-Guarulhos)

Puente Aéreo Terminal

The Puente Aéreo Terminal has been Avianca's exclusive terminal since 1991, it has 14 gates. It operates all the regional and domestic services of Avianca and its subsidiary SAM from Bogotá. 19 destinations in the country can be reached from the Puente Aéreo:

★ Avianca (Armenia, Barrancabermeja, Barranquilla, Bucaramanga, Cali, Cartagena, Cúcuta, Ibagué, Manizales, Medellín-Cordova, Montería, Neiva, Pasto, Pereira, Popayan, Rioacha, San Andrés Island, Santa Marta, Valledupar)

Charter services

★ APSA

★ Avianca operated by Helicol

★ Searca

Cargo airlines

Domestic Terminal

★ AeroSucre

★ AeroSur

★ Colombian Air Cargo

★ Cargo Express

★ Líneas Aéreas Suramericanas

★ Tampa Cargo

★ Avianca Cargo

International Terminal

★ ABSA

★ Arrow Air

★ Atlas Air

★ Avianca Cargo

★ Cargolux

★ Centurion Air Cargo

★ Cielos del Perú

★ DHL

★ Fedex

★ Focus Air Cargo

★ Líneas Aéreas Suramericanas

★ Martinair Cargo

★ MasAir

★ UPS

★ Panavia

★ Polar Air Cargo

★ Tampa Cargo

★ Vensecar Internacional

See also

★ Guaymaral Airport

External links

★ El Dorado International Airport Official Site

★ Civil Aeronautic Administrative Special Unit - Aerocivil

★ Authorized itineraries by the Aerocivil (only passenger airlines)

★ Official information about El Dorado International Airport concession