Colombia cuts ribbon on Medellín airport upgrade

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos inaugurated the latest stage of the modernization and expansion works made at the José María Córdova airport in Medellín, according to a press release from the presidency.

The works, which were carried by concessionaire Airplan and required total investments of 350bn pesos (US$117mn), entailed expanding the domestic passenger terminal from 41,350m2 to 50,000m2 and adding five additional parking positions, while the international passenger terminal ended up with an area of 57,500m2 and gained three new plane parking positions, making a total of seven.

With the latest part of the upgrade completed, the airport's passenger-handling capacity will rise to 11mn per year, up from only 4.8mn in 2012.

Other works, which include expanding the cargo facility, are expected to be completed within a year, the press release adds.

For this part of the upgrade, the storages and cargo facilities will be increased in size by 12,700m2.

Colombia plans to invest up to 1.6tn pesos in 2018-20 to modernize the infrastructure of its existing airports, and plans to tender the construction of a brand new airport for Bogotá next year.