Departure
96%
vs 95%
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Marcos A. Gelabert International Airport (MPMG/PAC), also known as Albrook, sits close to the heart of Panama City on the site of the former Albrook Air Force Station. It is Panama City's domestic hub, handling regional airline traffic and charter flights within a single, fairly short runway, making it an interesting single-runway VFR destination for pilots exploring Panama.
Marcos A. Gelabert International Airport, generally known by its old name Albrook, is a public airport operated by the Panama Civil Aviation Authority and located about 1.5 kilometres west of the centre of Panama City. It occupies the former Albrook Air Force Station and today serves as Panama City's domestic airport, handling scheduled and charter flights to destinations across the country. For a sim pilot, its city-centre position, single hard runway and busy light-aircraft and airline mix make it a compact and characterful field to fly into.
The airport lies in Panamanian airspace under Panama Approach and Panama Area Control, close to the much larger Tocumen International Airport to the east of Panama City. It sits on the Pacific side of the isthmus, within the urban area of Panama City, on the site of the former Albrook Air Force Station.
MPMG has a single physical runway aligned 01/19, a hard-surfaced strip that is lit. Runway 01 is 5,468 feet long and Runway 19 is 5,352 feet long. There is no ILS approach.
Air traffic services are provided by Gelabert Tower on 118.3 MHz. Ground movements are handled on 121.7 MHz, with a VFR advisory service available on 121.2 MHz. Approach control is Panama Approach on 119.7 MHz, and area control is provided by Panama Control on 133 MHz and 133.3 MHz.
The airfield originated as Albrook Field, an air base authorised by the US Congress in 1928 to protect the Pacific approach to the Panama Canal, following recognition after World War I that the existing France Field was inadequate for the task. Construction began in 1930 and Albrook Army Airfield was commissioned as an active field in April 1932. Through the 1930s further buildings were added and the runways upgraded for all-weather flying, and by 1939 Congress had authorised major funding to expand Panama's canal defences, including the new Howard Field on the Pacific side. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, troop numbers in Panama rose sharply and the base played a role in the wider air and naval reconnaissance effort against the threat of German U-boats, before the defence posture was downgraded from 1943. The base became Albrook Air Force Base in 1948, and in 1966 US Air Force U-2 aircraft flew atmospheric sampling missions from the field during French nuclear testing in the South Pacific. It was downgraded to Albrook Air Force Station in 1975 when its control tower closed and Air Force units moved to Howard Air Force Base. Under the Torrijos-Carter Treaties, signed in 1977, the airfield and its adjacent hangars and buildings were transferred to the Panamanian government on 1 October 1979, and the station saw further action during the 1989 United States invasion of Panama, including fighting near its front gate. It was fully handed over to the Panamanian government in September 1997. Panama's civil airport had previously operated for around seventy years at Paitilla, on Punta Paitilla, before moving its operations to Albrook in January 1999, at which point the field was renamed to honour Panamanian aviator Marcos A. Gelabert, founder of the country's first airline and its first pilot training school.
Today the airport functions as Panama City's domestic and regional gateway, with airlines such as Air Panama and Flytrip operating scheduled services to destinations including Bocas del Toro, Changuinola, Chitré, David, Pedasí and Contadora, along with charter flights to numerous smaller strips around the country. Both airlines maintain their corporate headquarters on the airport property.