Departure
93%
vs 95% ▼ 2
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Rafael Núñez International Airport (SKCG/CTG) serves the historic Caribbean port city of Cartagena, Colombia, sitting on a narrow strip of land between the sea and the Ciénaga de la Virgen marsh. It is a busy international gateway and one of Colombia's principal airports, offering a single long instrument runway, full tower service and a rich aviation history stretching back to the 1940s.
Rafael Núñez International Airport lies in the Crespo district of northern Cartagena, on Colombia's Caribbean coast. Named after the nineteenth-century Colombian president and author of the national anthem's lyrics, Rafael Núñez, the field is now a major international hub, serving as a base for Avianca and hosting a wide range of domestic and international carriers. For a visiting VFR or IFR pilot, it offers a single long, lit, ILS-equipped runway and full tower service, set within a compact coastal site that makes for a distinctive approach over water and marshland.
The airport sits between the Caribbean Sea and the Ciénaga de la Virgen marsh, in the centre of Crespo, a neighbourhood in northern Cartagena, roughly 11 kilometres from the city's central business district. Approach control in the area is provided by Barranquilla Approach.
The airfield has a single physical runway, 01/19, oriented roughly north-south. It is 8,357 feet long, has a hard surface, and is lit for night operations. An ILS is available for runway 01.
Barranquilla Approach controls the wider area on 119.1 MHz. The airport's own tower operates on 118.3 MHz. Runway 01 is served by an ILS, supporting instrument approaches to the field.
The airport's position between the Caribbean shoreline and the Ciénaga de la Virgen marsh, in the Crespo neighbourhood of northern Cartagena, provides a clear coastal landmark for pilots approaching from seaward or along the coast.
The airport takes its name from Rafael Núñez (1825-1894), a native of Cartagena who served as president of Colombia and wrote the verses of the national anthem. The field originated as an airfield developed by TACA, which planned to use it as a distribution hub for TACA group operations and eventually for international flights to Panama, Costa Rica, Venezuela and the United States, without interfering with existing Avianca and Pan American operations from Barranquilla. TACA de Colombia suspended operations in April 1947, and the airport subsequently passed to the LANSA company. By 1979 the field was handling 99 flights a week, insufficient to meet growing tourism demand, and in 1982 a new passenger terminal was added and the runway extended, with the airport renamed Rafael Núñez Airport at that time. On 11 January 1995, Intercontinental de Aviación Flight 256 crashed on approach to the airport in a controlled-flight-into-terrain accident attributed to instrument failure and pilot error.
Rafael Núñez International Airport is today a large, busy international airport and a hub for Avianca, with scheduled services from numerous airlines connecting Cartagena to destinations across North, Central and South America, and onward connections to Europe via Bogotá. The airport is administered and being expanded under a ten-year contract awarded to OINAC S.A. from 1 March 2024. The field includes an international terminal and control tower, with aircraft parking connected to the runway by taxiways.