Ernesto Cortissoz International Airport

Ernesto Cortissoz International Airport Aeropuerto Internacional Ernesto Cortissoz
Control tower
IATA: BAQ ICAO: SKBQ
Summary
Airport type	Public / Military
Operator	Operadora Aeroportuaria del Caribe S.A.S. (BAQ Cortissoz)
Serves	Barranquilla, Colombia
Location	Soledad, Atlántico
Elevation AMSL	30 m / 98 ft
Coordinates	10°53′22″N 074°46′50″W / 10.88944°N 74.78056°W / 10.88944; -74.78056Coordinates: 10°53′22″N 074°46′50″W / 10.88944°N 74.78056°W / 10.88944; -74.78056
Website	[1]
Map
BAQ Location of airport in Colombia
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 05/23 3,000 9,843 Concrete
Statistics (2010)
Air operations 40,321 Passenger movement 1,722,801 Cargo movement (T) 25,408
Source: AIP Colombia at UAEAC

Ernesto Cortissoz International Airport (Spanish: Aeropuerto Internacional Ernesto Cortissoz, IATA: BAQ, ICAO: SKBQ) is an airport serving the area of Barranquilla, the capital city of the Atlántico department in Colombia. The airport is located in the suburban municipality of Soledad. It owes its name to one of the pioneers of Colombian aviation, Ernesto Cortissoz.

This airport serves as a focus city for Avianca. It is capable of accepting widebodied aircraft such as the Boeing 747, Boeing 767, and Airbus A340. It is the most important airport in terms of infrastructure in the northern part of the country and the first in terms of cargo movements.

The airport is located in the municipality of Soledad, just 12 km (7 mi) from the center of Barranquilla. It is capable of receiving widebody aircraft like the Boeing 747, McDonnell Douglas DC-10 and Airbus A340. In fact, it was once the largest airport in Colombia. Currently, the airport is fifth in number of passengers and cargo room. The airport has two terminals: the domestic, with gates 6-13, and international, with gates 1-5 and 5A In July 2007, the Aeronautica Civil gave the airport "open skies" designation, this means that any airline in the world can fly to Barranquilla on any route with any frequency. This action was taken largely to promote tourism as Barranquilla is a key access point to the Caribbean.

At the beginning of commercial aviation in Colombia, airport construction was in charge of each airline purporting to serve a particular city. Thus construction of major airports in Colombia fell to SCADTA, including Soledad Airport.

Soledad Airport soon became the main center of operations and maintenance of SCADTA for their domestic operations. International services were operated by Pan American Airways, which maintained scheduled DC-3 service, later supplemented by Boeing 307 Stratoliners, to Panama, Kingston and Miami. In 1946 international service at Soledad Airport resumed with Avianca DC-4s, first to Miami and later to Kingston and New York.