Palonegro International Airport

Palonegro International Airport, located in the Municipality of Lebrija, marked a new stage of progress for the Department of Santander and its capital, the city of Bucaramanga. The work was directed by the Administrative Department of Civil Aviation, who also were responsible for the construction of new airports and Pitalito Monteria and remodelling in Leticia and Eldorado in this period.

The modern facility that was opened by the President Misael Pastrana in August 1974 replaced the old airport "Gomez Niño". The inaugural flight took place on a Boeing 727 Avianca, commanded by Captain Alvaro Barrera Gómez.

Gómez Niño Airport, located within the urban area of Bucaramanga, had significant limitations, given their geographical location and its adverse conditions for security and air navigation. In fact, there were several fatal air accidents that brought mourning to the city and country. The old airport, located in the current Ciudadela Real de Minas, was built by the company Scadta in late 1938, when operations began with Junkers F-13 aircraft. The airport was purchased by Colombian Aerodrome Administration in 1954 and was one of the few airports in Colombia that operated two runways simultaneously, built in a configuration of X, which allowed their use depending on the prevailing winds. Avianca and Taxader had its headquarters at the airport.

The site of the Palonegro Airport was the historic setting of political strife and the battle of the same name, which took place on 25 May 1900, during the Thousand Days War. The land where existing facilities are located and the runway was formed by a series of no less than seven hills of considerable height and six canyons with depths exceeding 60 metres.

That is why it was necessary to move at least 14 million cubic metres of earth in successful operation and a great engineering work that began in 1969. The location of the airport has an elevation of 1190 m above to sea level and an average temperature of 21 degrees Celsius, and is also located 18 kilometers from Bucaramanga on the main road that passes through the historic town of Giron.

A taxiway parallel to the runway was built later, along with the facilities, apron, and hangars to serve general aviation.

The airport was renovated from 2014 to 2018. The newly renovated airport was inaugurated by president Juan Manuel Santos in February 2018.[4] The cost of the renovation was approximately $70 million colombian pesos.[4] The renovation also increased the capacity from 1.8 to 2.5 million people per year, and consisted of the expansion of the departures hall, check-in areas, baggage claim areas, airline offices, and new jet bridges. [5] The terminal was doubled in square footage, going from 80,000 to nearly 200,000 square feet.[6]

The passenger terminal building is 7000 sq. meters. Located in the terminal is the baggage claim, which communicates with the parking lot. The terminal also has a restaurants, stores, offices of Civil Aviation, Meteorology, tourism services, and the National Police, Customs, and security check room. From there stairs lead downward to the waiting area which has a capacity for 400 people.

The Control Tower has a height of 34 metres (112 ft), equivalent to 10 floors, where one can see the airport terminal, the entire length of the runway, and platforms for aircraft parking.

The Colombian company Terpel is responsible for building and operating storage tanks and supply facilities.

A 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) road links the terminal with the main road from Bucaramanga to Barrancabermeja. The total cost of Palonegro International Airport was $230 million pesos in 1974.

For the year 2007 was ranked among the 10 top airports in Colombia, and for this reason the Civil Aviation decided to invest in expanding and building a new domestic and international boarding area.

70-80 daily flights are now carried out by scheduled airlines in five domestic destinations: ADA, Avianca, Copa Airlines Colombia, EasyFly, Aires and Satena. The airport has international flights to Fort Lauderdale International Airport through Spirit Airlines and Tocumen International Airport through Copa Airlines. Palonegro currently ranks eighth in passenger traffic in the country.

The National Ministry of Transport and Group Palonegro Northeast all control the airport. The airport group comprises the airports in Cúcuta, Barrancabermeja, Valledupar, Santa Marta and Riohacha.

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at the airport:

• On 14 December 1977, a Vickers Viscount HK-1267 of TAC Colombia was damaged beyond repair while landing. The airplane bounced heavily and then turned into a violent loop, collapsing the nose and landing gear. There were no injuries among the passengers.[7]
• On 12 April 1999, five members of the National Liberation Army hijacked a Fokker 50 carrying 46 people. They took everyone on the aircraft as hostages into the jungle near Simití. The hostages were then taken to boats on the Magdalena River. Ransom payments were demanded for the hostages. It is unknown what happened to the hostages.[8]
• On 19 February 2000, a Beechcraft 1900C-1 en route to Camilo Daza International Airport was hijacked by an armed prisoner. The prisoner was not handcuffed. A few minutes after takeoff, the prisoner showed a knife and forced his way into the cockpit. He forced the pilots to land in a small airstrip in the jungle. He then escaped the plane and took one of the guards as a hostage. A military unit tracked down the plane and the hijacker, chasing and killing him shortly afterwards and also releasing the hostage.[9]
• On 24 December 2014, all passengers were killed when a Cessna 207 belonging to regional airline Alas de Colombia, carrying 7 people on board, crashed on route from Palonegro International Airport to Jerónimo de Aguayo Airport in Málaga after attempting to return to the airport due to a mechanical failure. According to the investigation, the primary cause of the crash was that the plane was overweight, but was also due to pilot error by flying the plane too low, and failure of the pilot to contact ATC regarding his status.[10] The crash site was near the town of Piedecuesta, about 10 miles away from Bucaramanga. There were no survivors and all the bodies were recovered in the following days.[11]

• Transport in Colombia
• List of airports in Colombia

• Palonegro Airport at OpenStreetMap
• Palonegro Airport at OurAirports
• Aeronautical chart and airport information for Palonegro Airport at SkyVector
• Accident history for BGA at Aviation Safety Network
• Airport information for SKBG at World Aero Data. Data current as of October 2006.
• Current weather for SKBG at NOAA/NWS