Departure
99%
vs 95% ▲ 3
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Pampulha - Carlos Drummond de Andrade Airport lies in the Pampulha district of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, and today serves as the city's general aviation and flight-training field. Its single long hard-surfaced runway, ILS approach and full tower service make it a straightforward destination for VFR pilots exploring central Brazil, though scheduled airline traffic ceased here in 2019 in favour of the newer Confins airport.
Pampulha Airport, officially Pampulha - Carlos Drummond de Andrade Airport, sits in the Pampulha neighbourhood of Belo Horizonte and has been a fixture of the city's aviation scene since the 1930s. Once the principal airport for Belo Horizonte, it now functions primarily as a general aviation, maintenance and flight-training base, making it an interesting and accessible stop for simulator pilots who want a busy Brazilian regional field without the scale of a major international hub.
The airport lies within Belo Horizonte's controlled airspace, with approach, tower and ground services all provided under the Belo Horizonte identity. Pampulha is the older, more centrally located of the two airports serving the city, standing within the urban area itself, while the larger Tancredo Neves International Airport at Confins, opened in 1984, lies further out and now handles the bulk of scheduled traffic.
The airport has a single physical runway, 13/31, orientated on a roughly southeast-northwest axis. It is 7,740 feet long with a hard surface and is lit for night operations. Runway 13 is equipped with an ILS approach, giving instrument-capable traffic a precision option onto the field.
Pilots should expect to work Belo Horizonte Approach on 120.2 MHz, with the field's ATIS broadcasting on 127.45 MHz. Ground movements are coordinated on 121.6 MHz, and clearance delivery is available on 121.1 MHz. Belo Horizonte Tower operates on 118 MHz, and an operations frequency, 122.5 MHz, is listed under Sao Paulo Ops. The runway 13 ILS supports instrument approaches to the field.
Pampulha Airport opened on 3 March 1933 as a support facility for Brazilian Air Force passenger flights between Rio de Janeiro and Fortaleza, with the first commercial service beginning in 1936 when Panair do Brasil started flying between Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte. The runway was progressively lengthened, reaching 1,500 by 45 metres in 1943, 1,700 metres in 1953, and 2,505 metres by 1961, reflecting the airport's growing importance as traffic increased. As Pampulha became increasingly overcrowded within the expanding city, the new Tancredo Neves International Airport was built at Confins and opened in March 1984, though Pampulha remained the preferred airport for many airlines owing to its more central location. In March 2005 the state and federal governments restricted Pampulha to aircraft carrying up to 50 passengers, prompting most airline operations to relocate to Confins and allowing Pampulha to develop as a hub for regional flights and general aviation. The airport was renamed in honour of the Minas Gerais-born poet Carlos Drummond de Andrade on 16 December 2004. In 2009 Infraero invested in a new control tower, upgraded general aviation hangars and an enlarged apron ahead of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, for which Belo Horizonte was a host city. Scheduled operations at Pampulha ceased entirely on 30 June 2019, after which the airport was dedicated to general aviation, aircraft maintenance and flying-school activity. Administration passed from Infraero, which had run the airport since 1973, to the State of Minas Gerais at the end of 2020, and then to a private concessionaire from October 2021.
Since the withdrawal of scheduled airline services in 2019, Pampulha has operated as Belo Horizonte's general aviation airport, hosting aircraft maintenance operations and flying schools alongside private and business flying. The field continues to record a steady volume of aircraft movements each year, reflecting its active role in regional and training flights, even though passenger traffic has effectively ended. Air traffic control services, including tower and approach, remain in place to support this ongoing general aviation activity.