Departure
95%
vs 95%
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Alfonso Bonilla Aragón International Airport (SKCL) serves Cali, Colombia's third-largest city, from a site in the flat, fertile Cauca River valley between Cali and Palmira. Formerly known as Palmaseca International Airport, it is a major international gateway with a single long paved runway equipped with ILS, and it operates around the clock. For a simulator pilot it offers an interesting approach environment, hemmed in by the Western and Central Andes ranges rising to around 14,000 feet on either side of the valley.
Alfonso Bonilla Aragón International Airport, carrying the ICAO code SKCL and IATA code CLO, lies in the Cauca River valley between the cities of Cali and Palmira in Colombia's Valle del Cauca Department. Operated by Aeronáutica Civil, it is Colombia's fourth-busiest airport by passenger volume and serves as a hub for Avianca and TAC Colombia, with non-stop international services to the United States, Spain, Panama, Ecuador, the Dutch Antilles, Mexico and Chile. For a VFR or IFR sim pilot the field is notable for its long single runway, its ILS-equipped approach, and its setting in a wide valley flanked by mountainous terrain, as well as for its round-the-clock operation.
The airport sits in the broad, fertile Cauca River valley, which runs north to south between the Western and Central ranges of the Colombian Andes, with peaks in the surrounding terrain rising to around 14,000 feet. It is located between the towns of Palmira and Cali, in the municipality of Palmira, and serves both Cali, the departmental capital, and the industrial town of Yumbo nearby. The field is regularly used as the designated alternate for Bogotá's El Dorado International Airport and for other Colombian airports, reflecting the quality of its electronic, communications and safety equipment. Being situated away from both Cali and Palmira, the airport is not subject to noise restrictions, which together with stable year-round meteorological conditions allows it to operate as one of the few secondary airports in Latin America running a full 24-hour schedule.
The airport has a single physical runway, 02/20, oriented roughly north-south. It is 9,858 feet long, has a hard (asphalt) surface, and is lit for night operations. Runway 02 is equipped with an ILS approach.
Pilots should expect to work Cali Approach on 119.1 MHz, with ATIS broadcast on 115.5 MHz. Ground movements are handled on 121.9 MHz, and the tower callsign Cali Tower operates on 118.1 MHz, with a further radio frequency of 126.7 MHz listed for Cali Radio. Runway 02 is served by an ILS, supporting instrument approaches into the field.
The airport lies within the open, flat floor of the Cauca River valley, bounded visually by the Western and Central Andes ranges to either side, which rise to roughly 14,000 feet and provide a clear geographic frame for the valley in which the field sits. Palmira lies close to the airport, with Cali further to the southwest and the industrial centre of Yumbo also nearby, all of which can assist with visual orientation when approaching the field from the surrounding lowlands.
Aviation first reached Cali on 21 April 1921, when Ferruccio Guicciardi flew an Italian Macchi-Hanriot HD-1, named Telegraph I, from Guayaquil via Quito and Pasto to claim a prize offered by the department and city council for the first landing there. Following the war with Peru in 1932, President Enrique Olaya Herrera enlisted SCADTA engineers, and the German pilot Herbert Boy selected a site called El Guabito for an airfield; operations began there on 21 September 1933, eventually hosting SCADTA, Panagra, TACA de Colombia and VIARCO SAETA. Panagra later developed a new airport, Calipuerto, at Candelaria, which opened on 17 April 1947 and passed into state ownership in the 1950s before coming under the Civil Aeronautics Department in 1968. A separate airport, El Limonar, operated in Cali's Pasoancho area from 1947 until its closure in 1954 after a merger between LANSA and Avianca shifted operations to Calipuerto. The present airport originated from the 1971 Pan American Games, held in Cali, which prompted construction of a new facility on land purchased from Hacienda Palmaseca in Palmira; despite financial and operational difficulties requiring a further US$35 million in government investment, Palmaseca International Airport opened on 24 July 1971 during the presidency of Misael Pastrana Borrero, with a 3,000-metre runway, taxiways, apron and a terminal building. In June 1989 the airport was renamed Alfonso Bonilla Aragón International Airport in honour of a local civic leader and journalist who had played a prominent role in securing its approval and construction. The airport's history includes notable incidents, among them the hijacking of an Aeropesca Colombia Vickers Viscount diverted to Cali on 21 January 1974, and the loss of American Airlines Flight 965 on 20 December 1995, which crashed into a mountain near Cali after a navigational error, remaining Colombia's deadliest air disaster.
The airport functions as a major international gateway for Cali and Palmira, serving as a hub for Avianca and TAC Colombia and a focus city for the cargo carrier Aerosucre, with non-stop routes to destinations in the United States, Spain, Panama, Ecuador, the Dutch Antilles, Mexico and Chile. It is one of the few secondary airports in Latin America to operate on a full 24-hour basis, aided by consistent year-round weather and its distance from nearby urban noise-sensitive areas. The field's high standard of communications, electronic and safety equipment underpins its regular use as an alternate for Bogotá's El Dorado International Airport.