ALFONSO BONILLA ARAGON AIRPORT ASSISTANCE

History Alfonso Bonilla Aragon International Airport

On April 21, 1921, Ferruccio Guicciardi flew his Italian-made Macchi-Hanriot HD-1, (named "Telegraph I") from Guayaquil, Ecuador, to Cali, with stops in Quito and Pasto, Colombia. This was the first aircraft ever to land in Cali. He claimed the $9,500 peso prize offered by the Department of Valle and the Cali City Council to the first pilot who landed in the city. This event marked the birth of aviation activity in the capital of Valle del Cauca.

Following the war with Peru in 1932, President Enrique Olaya Herrera sought the help of SCADTA engineers and pilots to find a suitable site for an airport capable of providing air support to military operations. After evaluating several alternatives, the German pilot Herbert Boy chose an area called "El Guabito" because of its location, proximity to the city and an extension of Juanchito Antioquia Avenue. After levelling the land with bulldozers a fledgling Air Force Base and Air National Guard station were built and operations began on September 21, 1933. Eventually, the number of airlines operating from the airport grew to include TACA de Colombia and VIARCO SAETA along with the already established SCADTA Panagra.

However, Panagra began looking for a suitable place for an airport in order to link South America with Panama through Cali, as well as its domestic flights operated by Avianca. To this end, they acquired land in the municipality of Candelaria, 18 miles from the center of Cali. On April 17, 1947, the modern facilities at "Calipuerto" were inaugurated. The airport passed to the Colombian state in the 1950s and was subsequently taken over by the Civil Aeronautics Department in 1968.

In 1946, the company VIARCO Valle, under the management of Ricardo A. Deeb, implemented an expansion policy including the construction of its own airport in Cali. The airport would be open to all airlines in the country except Avianca. In November 1946, the Aviation Authority requested an inspection of the new "El Limonnar" airport, located in the Pasoancho area of the city. In early 1947, the works were completed at the airport, which was put in service and equipped with the most modern facilities and equipment at that time. LANSA and other smaller companies also moved operations to this airport from the military airport at El Guabito, later renamed the Marco Fidel Suarez AFB. El Limonar was closed in 1954 following a merger between LANSA and Avianca and the subsequent transfer of operations to Calipuerto. The city of Cali, like Bogota, at that time had three active airports in operation. When the new Palmaseca Airport opened the old Calipuerto buildings and runways were adapted and expanded to house Cavasa, an agricultural and food products distribution centre.

Transportation Alfonso Bonilla Aragon International Airport

The following means of transportation are available at Cali Airport to get to downtown:

• Bus: By several Mini buses and other shuttle services.
• Taxi: Get to Cali within 26 minutes.
• Car rental: Rent a car through our search engine or in the Domestic Arrivals hall.

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