Airport El Dorado

The El Dorado Airport (IATA: BOG) is the international airport in Bogota Colombia. It is the largest Latin American airport in terms of cargo and the fifth in terms of passengers. It is also the largest airport in Colombia. For Avianca and Copa airlines it is the main flight hub in their network. It is led by Opain (Operadora Aeroportuaria Internacional), a consortium composed of Colombian construction / engineering firm 's and Swiss Flughafen Zürich AG. Opain will operate the airport for the next 20 years.

El Dorado is, politically and economically, the main airport in Colombia and serves as the primary international gateway of the country. It handles all domestic and international flights into Bogotá. The landing site is 6.9 km² and is the 3rd largest landing site of the world. El Dorado is located approximately 15 km west of downtown. The airport enjoys a connection with Avenida El Dorado (Calle 26) one of the fastest roads in Bogotá. Calle 26 runs through the city in east west direction. The airport is also connected to the Transmilenio system.

Facilities

International Gates

The airport has two passenger terminals. The main terminal, El Dorado, has been following the legend of El Dorado. This terminal was built in 1959 and handles all international arrivals. Also national arrivals are handled except for Avianca, which has it's own Puente Aereo terminal. The check-in counters, immigration and customs are located on the ground floor. On the first floor are the waiting rooms and emigration.

The building has two parts, the national part and the international section. The national section has 11 gates and 5 extra for regional flights. The international section has 9 gates. El Dorado has a passenger terminal area of 54,000 m². It has travel agencies, drugstores, restaurants and cafeterias, bookstores and pin machines to find. There are also telecom shops, these provide the opportunity for international or national calling, faxing, but also internet ofcourse. In parts of the arrival terminal you will find tourist information offices and the transport within the city.

Puente Aereo

The second terminal is the Puente Aereo terminal which was opened in 1981. It is a private terminal of Avianca and its partners. It is used for the domestic and regional flights. The terminal was initially only for passengers to and from Miami, New York-JFK routes and Cali, Medellín, Pasto, and Montería. In October 2006 it was modernized for an amount of 7.5 million U.S. dollars. Puente Aereo is one of the most modern domestic terminals in Latin America. The terminal has more than 120 daily flights accounting for about 120,000 passengers. The terminal adds an area of 4416 sqm for passengers and 14 domestic gates. The big advantage of Puente Aero is the short transfer time between domestic flights from Avianca.

History

The passenger terminal of El Dorado was designed during the period of Gustavo Rojas Pinilla. Construction began in 1955 and lasted until the end of 1959. It replaced the interim terminal and joined with other parts of the then brand new airport.

• In 1973, a milestone reached was by the airport as nearly three million passengers and nearly 5 million pieces of baggage was handled. That year was one of the best years of aviation industry of Colombia. This year it become also clear that the continued growth of the airport made a 2nd runway necessary.
• In 1981 Avianca started to build its passenger terminal, Puente Aereo. It was then opened by President Julio Cesar Turbay Ayala.
• In 1998 the second runway was officially opened.
• On December 10, 1998 Avianca officially opened its hub at the airport of Bogota. It offered a small 6000 connections per week.

Future Plans

On August 24, 2006 the Colombian government awarded a contract for the expansion and modernization of the airport to Opain (Operadora Aeroportuaria Internacional). The total cost for the expansion and modernization are estimated at 650 million U.S. dollars.

The expansion plan includes:

El Dorado Bogota after expansion

• The construction of a new international terminal and the modernization of the existing terminal (future domestic terminal). There will a total area of 133,875 m² for passenger, 56 gates, 144 check-in counters and 58,924 parking spaces. After the renovation, the airport has a capacity of 16 million passengers per year.
• The construction of a new cargo terminal. This will have easier access for trucks. The cargo area is nearly 68,000 m² and 7,000 m² office space. There will also be 26 parking spaces for aircrafts.
• The construction of an administration building at the new international terminal. It will cover all services for the management and running of the airport housed in 6 floors with a total area 4500 m².
• The construction of a new maintenance area of 88,000 sq feet (8.200 m²). It's for maintaining the aircrafts.

On February 7, 2007 the national government voted with a proposal of Opain to destroy the old terminal and build a new terminal instead of modernizing it. Construction began in 2007 and will be ready in 2011. In February, 2010 it was announced that 2014 is the new expected completion date.

Map of airport

Here are the map of the airport and the Puento Aereo.

Map of the Airport El Dorado Bogota

Map of Puente Aereo El Dorado Bogota