Albrook "Marcos A. Gelabert" International Airport
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Marcos A. Gelabert Albrook International Airport / Aeropuerto Internacional |
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| Summary | |||||||||||
| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||
| Operator | Autoridad Aeronáutica Civil | ||||||||||
| Serves | Panama City, Panama | ||||||||||
| Location | Panama City, Panama | ||||||||||
| Opened | 1932 | ||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 9 m / 30 ft | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 08°58′24″N 079°33′20″W / 8.97333°N 79.55556°WCoordinates: 08°58′24″N 079°33′20″W / 8.97333°N 79.55556°W | ||||||||||
| Website | https://www.airpanama.com | ||||||||||
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 MPMG
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| Passengers (Annual) | 289,197 |
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Albrook "Marcos A. Gelabert" International Airport (Spanish: Aeropuerto Internacional de Albrook "Marcos A. Gelabert") (IATA: PAC, ICAO: MPMG) is a public airport located 1.5 km (0.93 mi) west of the center of Panama City, in the Panamá Province of Panama. It is located on the site of the former Albrook Air Force Station. Previously, the airport was located in the area of Paitilla, operating approximately 70 years until January 1999, year when the airport started operations in Albrook. The name was changed to honor the Panamanian aviator Marcos A. Gelabert, whose contributions to Panamanian aviation included founding Panama's first airline and first school for training pilots.
Air Panama offers daily flights to many cities in Panama from Albrook Airport. Its corporate headquarters are located on the airport property.
After World War I, it became apparent to military planners that air power, especially naval air power, constituted a serious threat to the safety of the Panama Canal. The one existing airfield (France Field) was too small, had a poor landing surface, offered no room for expansion, and provided little defense for the Pacific entrance to the Canal. Construction for an air base at Albrook Field was authorized by Congress in 1928, and $1.9 million was appropriated. Actual construction began in 1930 and most was completed in 1932. Albrook Army Airfield was commissioned in April 1932 as an active air field.
The original construction program at Albrook left out several buildings necessary for efficient flight operations, including a headquarters building. As money could be secured throughout the 1930s, seven buildings were added to the base. In addition, the runways were unsuitable for all-weather flying and had to be improved.
By the mid-1930s, advances in naval aviation (primarily aircraft carriers) and increasingly long-range bombers had again made plain the inadequacies of Canal air defense. Plans to significantly expand Air Corps strength had been around since 1934, essentially proposing a system of outlying bases supported by pursuit and bombardment aircraft. It was 1939, however, before these plans began to be realized. Congressional authorization and $50 million in funding were forthcoming that year for improving Canal defenses. Since a large part of the expansion program was a vast increase in manpower, much of the new construction involved housing at existing bases. In addition, a new airfield (Howard Field) was authorized for the west bank of the Pacific entrance to the Canal. The majority of the expansion program construction was completed by early 1942.
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