Matecaña International Airport 4.52

Matecaña International Airport serves the city of Pereira, Colombia. It also serves as an alternate airport for the cities of Armenia, Cartago, Manizales, Medellín, Cali and Bogotá.The airport lies along the edge of a deep ravine, west of Pereira. There are steep dropoffs on the sides and ends of the runway. There is high terrain in all quadrants except south.The Pereira VOR-DME is located 5.5nmi off the approach threshold of Runway 08. The Matecana non-directional beacon is located 2.0nmi off the Runway 08 threshold.InformationThe airport was built between 1944 and 1947. Its first official flight was a C-47 piloted by captain Luis Carlos Londoño Iragorrion on 24 July 1947. The city of Pereira owns and manages the terminal building, while the operations are in charge of Aerocivil, being the only airport in Colombia under these conditions. It handles 75 percent of passengers in the coffee region, with an average of 30 daily commercial operations to different destinations.The passenger terminal is a four-level building built in the early 70s. The first level includes parking positions for the airplanes, and a baggage claim area. The second/main floor has the check-in counters, airline offices, and domestic and international arrival doors. The third floor has the general waiting room, toilets, stores, restaurants and cafes, free internet Wi-Fi, a devices charging station, and a VIP lounge operated by Avianca. Also on this level is security access for the two domestic waiting rooms. The international waiting room is here, with an independent door to the duty-free and security areas. In 1991 two jetways were installed from the domestic waiting rooms. On the fourth level are the airport general offices, a chapel, and two footbridges connecting the terminal with the car parking area, which is in front of the main building.