Pampulha–Carlos Drummond de Andrade Airport is an airport serving Belo Horizonte,

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 ...

, located in the neighborhood of Pampulha. Since December 16, 2004 the airport is also named after the Minas Gerais-born poet

Carlos Drummond de Andrade Carlos Drummond de Andrade () (October 31, 1902 – August 17, 1987) was a Brazilian poet and writer, considered by some as the greatest Brazilian poet of all time. He has become something of a national cultural symbol in Brazil, where his wi ...

(1902–1987). The airport is operated by CCR.

History

Pampulha Airport was opened in 1933 as a support facility for the passenger flights operated by the Brazilian Air Force between

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...

and Fortaleza. The first commercial operation started in 1936, when

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 granted a concession to fly between Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte. In 1943 the runway was extended to 1,500m x 45m, in 1953 to 1,700m, and finally in 1961 to 2,505m. With the great increase of traffic at Pampulha Airport, the facility became too small and unable to handle all operations. For this reason, the new

Tancredo Neves 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 N ...

was built in the adjoining municipality of

Confins Confins is a Brazilian municipality located in the state of Minas Gerais. Its population as of 2020 is estimated to be 6,800 people. The area of the municipality is 42.008 km². The city belongs to the mesoregion Metropolitana de Belo Horizon ...

. The new facility was opened in 1984. However, due to the long distance between Belo Horizonte and Confins, Pampulha remained the airport of choice for most airlines, eventually becoming overcrowded, while Confins was under-used. In order to revert this scenario, in March 2005 the government of the state of

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literally ...

with the support of agencies of the Federal government decided to restrict Pampulha to operations of aircraft with capacity of up to 50 passengers. In the months thereafter, most operations were forced to move to Confins and Pampulha gained a new vocation as a hub for regional flights and general aviation. On 31 August 2009, Infraero unveiled a BRL8.4 million (USD4.4 million; EUR3.1 million) investment plan to upgrade Pampulha Airport focusing on the preparations for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, which was held in Brazil, Belo Horizonte being one of the venue cities. The investment was used to: build a new control tower, upgrade general aviation hangars, and enlarge the apron. Between 1973 and 2020 the airport was 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 June 17, 2020, the Federal Government signed and agreement to transfer the administration of the airport from Infraero to the Government of the State of

. The transition period ended on December 31, 2020. On October 5, 2021 CCR won a 30-year concession to operate the airport.

Airlines and destinations

No scheduled flights operate at this airport.

Accidents and incidents

*31 May 1954:

Transportes Aéreos Nacional Transportes Aéreos Nacional was a Brazilian airline founded in 1946. It was merged into Varig in 1961, when Varig bought the Consórcio Real-Aerovias-Nacional, of which Transportes Aéreos Nacional was one of the partners. History Transporte ...

, a Douglas DC-3/C-47A-80-DL, registration PP-ANO, en route from

Governador Valadares Governador Valadares is a Brazilian municipality in the countryside of Minas Gerais. In 2020, its population was 281,046 inhabitants, thus being the ninth most populated city in the state. It is an economical axis of the middle valley of the Doce R ...

to Belo Horizonte-Pampulha, strayed off course and struck the Cipó mountain range in cloudy conditions. All 19 passengers and crew died. *20 April 2021: a Learjet 35A of Electric Power Construção crashed during landing after a test flight. The plane had a runway excursion, breaking a perimeter fence. One of the two pilots was killed, and two other occupants were injured.

Access

The airport is located from downtown Belo Horizonte.

References

External links