Departure
97%
vs 95% ▲ 2
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Enrique Olaya Herrera Airport (SKMD) is Medellín's historic secondary airport, sitting in the heart of the city's Aburrá Valley at an elevation of 4,905 feet and used for regional, domestic and general aviation traffic. Opened in 1932 and still operating today, it offers a single hard-surfaced runway and controlled radio services, making it a busy but manageable destination for a VFR pilot exploring Colombian aviation history.
Enrique Olaya Herrera Airport, commonly called Olaya Herrera, is Medellín's older, secondary airport, located within the city itself rather than out at Rionegro where the larger José María Córdova International Airport now handles the bulk of long-haul and heavy jet traffic. Olaya Herrera continues to serve regional airlines, general aviation, charter operators and flight training, and its long aviation pedigree, dating back to 1932, together with its tight urban setting in a mountain valley, make it an interesting and slightly demanding field for the simulator pilot to fly into.
The airport sits in the heart of Medellín, within the Aburrá Valley, an area of mountainous terrain that historically made overland travel to the city difficult and helped justify the airport's original construction. It is a controlled aerodrome with its own approach, ground and tower frequencies. José María Córdova International Airport, Medellín's main international gateway, lies about 19 kilometres to the east in the nearby municipality of Rionegro.
The field has a single physical hard-surfaced runway, 02/20, which is lit for night operations. Published lengths are 6,768 feet from the 02 threshold and 7,151 feet from the 20 threshold. There is no ILS approach available at the airport.
Pilots should expect to work Medellin Approach on 121.1 MHz, Ground on 121.9 MHz and Tower on 118.9 MHz. There is no ILS at the field, so arrivals and departures are conducted under visual or other non-precision procedures.
Olaya Herrera Airport traces its origins to Colombian businessman Gonzalo Mejía, who identified the need for an airport serving Medellín given the difficulty of overland transport through the surrounding mountains and the distance to the nearest airfield at Puerto Berrío. Mejía secured financing, selected the site, and founded Uraba, Medellin and Central Airways as a subsidiary of Pan American Airways. The airport opened on 5 July 1932 and was named after the then president of Colombia, Enrique Olaya Herrera, who had backed the project. As Medellín grew through the 1940s, Mejía signed a 1945 contract to expand the runway and facilities, work completed in May 1947. By the 1970s the airport was again over capacity, prompting construction of the larger José María Córdova International Airport at Rionegro; Olaya Herrera closed in 1986, a year after the new airport opened, with its land initially earmarked for a park. Public pressure led to its reopening in 1991 for domestic flights following a ruling by the Colombian civil aviation authority. That same year, improvements were made ahead of a visit by Pope John Paul II, which also inspired the naming of the Aeroparque Juan Pablo II park on the airport's western grounds. The airport was one of the mainstays of the airline ACES until its demise in August 2003. It was declared a national monument on 19 October 1995 in recognition of its historical, cultural and architectural value to Medellín and Colombia. In 2008 the national government placed the airport, along with five others in Colombia, under concession to the operator Airplan, which undertook a substantial modernisation programme aimed at meeting ICAO, Aerocivil and IATA requirements.
Olaya Herrera remains a busy regional and domestic airport, ranking second in Colombia for number of operations, and also supports significant general aviation and charter activity. Commercial operations are restricted by the airport's regional classification to aircraft carrying up to 50 passengers, with the exception of Satena, which flies larger Embraer 170 equipment. South of the terminal, an extensive hangar area houses the executive offices of charter and cargo operators together with flight schools, including the Aviación Antioqueña Academy and the Falcons School of Aviation, both of which operate from the field.