Montes Claros–Mário Ribeiro Airport is the airport serving the city of

Montes Claros Montes Claros is a city located in northern Minas Gerais state, in Brazil. The population is 413,487 (2020 est.) in an area of . It was made a seat of a municipality in 1831 and attained city status in 1857. History The region was originally in ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. Since April 2, 2003, the airport is named after Mário Ribeiro (1924–1999), a local politician. It is operated by

AENA ENAIRE is the air navigation manager in Spain, certified for the provision of en route, approach and aerodrome control services. As a public corporate entity attached to the Spanish Ministry of Public Works, it is responsible for air traffic co ...

History

The Montes Claros Airport was officially inaugurated on December 18, 1939.

Panair do Brasil Panair do Brasil was an airline of Brazil. Between 1945 and 1965 it was considered to be the largest carrier not only in Brazil but in all of Latin America. It ceased operations in 1965. History NYRBA do Brasil (1929–1930) ''Panair do Bras ...

was the first airline to operate in the airport, with service to the cities of

Belo Horizonte Belo Horizonte (, ; ) is the sixth-largest city in Brazil, with a population around 2.7 million and with a metropolitan area of 6 million people. It is the 13th-largest city in South America and the 18th-largest in the Americas. The metropol ...

Salvador Salvador, meaning "salvation" (or "saviour") in Catalan, Spanish, and Portuguese may refer to: * Salvador (name) Arts, entertainment, and media Music *Salvador (band), a Christian band that plays both English and Spanish music ** ''Salvador'' ( ...

, and

Recife That it may shine on all ( Matthew 5:15) , image_map = Brazil Pernambuco Recife location map.svg , mapsize = 250px , map_caption = Location in the state of Pernambuco , pushpin_map = Brazil#South A ...

commencing in 1942. In 1948, Nacional Serviços Aéreos commenced regular operations with daily flights between Montes Claros and Belo Horizonte, using

Douglas DC-3 The Douglas DC-3 is a propeller-driven airliner manufactured by Douglas Aircraft Company, which had a lasting effect on the airline industry in the 1930s to 1940s and World War II. It was developed as a larger, improved 14-bed sleeper version ...

aircraft with capacity for 24 passengers. In 1965,

VARIG VARIG (acronym for Viação Aérea RIo-Grandense, ''Rio Grandean Airways'') was the first airline founded in Brazil, in 1927. From 1965 until 1990, it was Brazil's leading airline, and virtually its only international one. In 2005, Varig went i ...

took over the routes previously operated by Panair, using

AVRO AVRO, short for Algemene Vereniging Radio Omroep ("General Association of Radio Broadcasting"), was a Dutch public broadcasting association operating within the framework of the Nederlandse Publieke Omroep system. It was the first public broad ...

aircraft with capacity for 40 passengers. In 1974, VARIG began using the

Boeing 737-200 The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Boeing Renton Factory, Renton Factory in Washington (state), Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the Boeing 707, 7 ...

jet aircraft A jet aircraft (or simply jet) is an aircraft (nearly always a fixed-wing aircraft) propelled by jet engines. Whereas the engines in propeller-powered aircraft generally achieve their maximum efficiency at much lower speeds and altitudes, je ...

for its Montes Claros routes, with a capacity for 109 passengers and over six tons of baggage and cargo. However, in 1977, due to the airport's inadequate infrastructure for the aircraft, operations were temporarily suspended. The runway was expanded to a length of 2,100 metres, allowing operations to the resume in 1978. In the same year, Nordeste Linhas Aéreas began operating routes between Montes Claros and Belo Horizonte, Salvador,

Guanambi Guanambi is a municipality in Bahia, Brazil, with an area of 1,272.367 km², and with 84,928 inhabitants in 2020, according to estimates by the IBGE, making it the 20th most populous municipality of Bahia. It was founded in 1919 and Nilo Coe ...

, and

Vitória da Conquista Vitória da Conquista is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in Bahia, Brazil, that has a population of approximately 341,000 people as of 2020, according to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Ge ...

. On March 31, 1980, the Brazilian Ministry of Aeronautics transferred the operations of the airport to

INFRAERO Empresa Brasileira de Infraestrutura Aeroportuária (abr. Infraero) is a Brazilian government corporation founded in 1973, authorized by Law 5,862,INFRAERO: 40 ANOS SERVINDO PESSOAS, EMPRESAS E O BRASIL. Retrieved 01/10/2014linha%5D/ref> being ...

, which held jurisdiction in the airport until 2022. In 2003, the airport was officially renamed to Aeroporto de Montes Claros - Mário Ribeiro, in honour of Mário Ribeiro, a local doctor and politician who served as councilman, vice-mayor, and mayor of the city between 1989 and 1992. A sculpture in his honour was erected in front of the airport terminal in 2021. On October 31, 2004, VARIG operated its final flight at the airport. In 2010, daily flights to

Belo Horizonte International Airport Belo Horizonte/Confins – Tancredo Neves International Airport , formerly called Confins International Airport is the primary international airport serving Belo Horizonte. Since 2 September 1986 the airport is named after Tancredo de Almeida Nev ...

began, whereas previously, most flights to Belo Horizonte landed on Pampulha Airport. Starting in 2011, various renovations took place at the airport, including the installation of air conditioning in the passenger terminal, accessibility improvements, and the construction of a new parking lot. In 2021, the airport underwent another major renovation, and its upgraded terminal now has a capacity to serve 1.5 million passengers annually, up from the previous capacity of 800,000 passengers per year. Previousy operated by

Infraero Empresa Brasileira de Infraestrutura Aeroportuária (abr. Infraero) is a Brazilian government corporation founded in 1973, authorized by Law 5,862,INFRAERO: 40 ANOS SERVINDO PESSOAS, EMPRESAS E O BRASIL. Retrieved 01/10/2014linha%5D/ref> being ...

, on August 18, 2022, the consortium

won a 30-year concession to operate the airport.

Airlines and destinations

Access

The airport is located northeast of downtown Montes Claros.

References

External links

* * * {{Brazil topics Airports in Minas Gerais Airports established in 1939

History

Airlines and destinations

Access

See also

References

External links