Olaya Herrera Airport

Olaya Herrera Airport Aeropuerto Olaya Herrera
IATA: EOH – ICAO: 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
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 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, 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. West Caribbean Airways, when it existed, had its corporate headquarters, operational center, and call center in Hangar 73 on the airport grounds.

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:

• Extension of platform
• New control tower
• Boarding bridges
• Restructuring of the central dome
• New parking tower
• Walking trails
• Construction of a Cargo Terminal
• Expansion of baggage area
• New lighting system
• Flight arrival information
• Wide range of shops
• The adequacy of office space
• Opening of terraces
• Food court
• Information technology components: internet, WiFi, X-ray, CCTV.
• Improved Airport Health Service
• Improvement of fire services
• Construction of a VIP terminal

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

Airlines	Destinations
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

• On 24 June 1935, internationally renowned Argentinian tango singer Carlos Gardel and 9 others were killed in a collision between two Ford Trimotor airplanes at the airport.

• On 1 March 1950, a C-47 (registration HK-507) operated by SAM crashed during approach to the airport after encountering adverse weather conditions. The aircraft was returning to the airport after a test flight following repairs to the left engine. During the approach, however, the airplane lost altitude due to severe weather and the left wing impacted a house causing the left engine to detach and the aircraft to plummet to the ground a few hundred meters short of the runway. The co-pilot and a machanic on board the aircraft perished on impact.

• On 13 June 1951, a C-47 (registration HK-504) operated by SAM took off from the airport for a cargo flight to Cartagena but crashed minutes later while attempting to return to the airport after experiencing technical problems. The 2-man crew and one person on the ground perished in the incident.

• On 31 March 1991, a Vickers Viscount (registration HK-1708) of Intercontinental de Aviación made an emergency landing at the airport after experiencing an instrument failure during a cargo flight from El Dorado International Airport in Bogota to Gustavo Rojas Pinilla International Airport on the Caribbean island of San Andrés. While cruising at 16,000 feet (4,900 m) both artificial horizons failed during turbulence and control of the aircraft was only regained at 4,000 feet (1,200 m). The aircraft was damaged beyond economic repair in the incident, which was caused by a gear collapse suffered previously on 14 February 1988.

• On 30 November 1996, ACES flight 148 bound to Bahía Solano with a stopover in Quibdó (Chocó) stalled and crashed into a mountain after takeoff. Of the 15 people on board, 14 died in the crash. The cause of the stall and the subsequent crash was found to be the aircraft being overloaded.

• On 15 October 2004, a Douglas DC-3C (registration HK-1504) belonging to carrier AeroVanguardia flew into electricity lines and crashed near Medellín on approach to Olaya Herrera Airport while performing a domestic cargo flight from La Vanguardia Airport, Villavicencio to José María Córdova International Airport, Medellín. The flight had been diverted to Olaya Herrera as alternate due to fog. The three crew were killed.

• On 18 February 2009, a Basler BT-67 (registration PNC-0211) of the Colombian National Police was destroyed by the accidental detonation of a number of hand grenades. Eight people were injured, four of them seriously. The aircraft was due to fly 25 police officers to El Caraño Airport, Quibdó.

See also

• José María Córdova International Airport
• Medellín

External links

• Olaya Herrera Airport (Spanish)
• Colombia's Civil Aviation Authority Website (Spanish)
• Airport information for SKMD at World Aero Data. Data current as of October 2006.