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Carlos Drummond de Andrade Airport

Coordinates: 19°51′07″S 043°57′02″W / 19.85194°S 43.95056°W / -19.85194; -43.95056
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Pampulha–Carlos Drummond de Andrade Airport

Aeroporto da Pampulha–Carlos Drummond de Andrade
Summary
Airport typePublic/Military
Operator
ServesBelo Horizonte
Opened3 March 1933; 91 years ago (1933-03-03)
Time zoneBRT (UTC−03:00)
Elevation AMSL789 m / 2,589 ft
Coordinates19°51′07″S 043°57′02″W / 19.85194°S 43.95056°W / -19.85194; -43.95056
Websitewww.ccraeroportos.com.br/pampulha-mg
Map
PLU is located in Minas Gerais Belo Horizonte
PLU
PLU
Location in Brazil
PLU is located in Brazil Minas Gerais
PLU
PLU
PLU (Brazil Minas Gerais)
PLU is located in Brazil
PLU
PLU
PLU (Brazil)
Map
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
13/31 2,364 7,756 Asphalt
Statistics (2024)
Passengers143
Aircraft Operations51,725 Increase 13%
Statistics: CCR[1]
Sources: Airport Website,[2] ANAC,[3] DECEA[4]

Pampulha–Carlos Drummond de Andrade Airport (IATA: PLU, ICAO: SBBH) is an airport serving Belo Horizonte, Brazil, 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 (1902–1987).[5]

The airport is operated by CCR.

History

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Pampulha Airport was opened in 1933 as a support facility for passenger flights operated by the Brazilian Air Force between Rio de Janeiro and Fortaleza. The first commercial operation started in 1936, when Panair do Brasil was granted a concession to fly between Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte. [citation needed]

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 was built in the adjoining municipality of Confins. The new facility was opened in 1984.

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 with the support of agencies of the Federal government decided to restrict Pampulha to operations of aircraft with capacity of up to 50 passengers.[6] 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 the general aviation hangars, and enlarge the apron.[7]

Between 1973 and 2020, the airport was operated by Infraero. 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 Minas Gerais. The transition period ended on December 31, 2020.[8]

On October 5, 2021, CCR won a 30-year concession to operate the airport.[9]

Airlines and destinations

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No scheduled flights operate at this airport.

Statistics

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Apron
Passenger terminal land side

Following is the number of passenger, aircraft and cargo movements at the airport, according to Infraero (2007-2021) and CCR (2022-2024) reports:[10][11][1]

Year Passenger Aircraft Cargo (t)
2024 143 51,725 Increase 13%
2023 9 45,654
2022a 0 25,627
2021 148,854 Steady 37,407 Increase 28% 1 Decrease 91%
2020 149,441 Decrease 17% 29,319 Decrease 19% 11 Increase 1,100%
2019b 179,685 Decrease 13% 36,133 Decrease 7% 0 Decrease 100%
2018 205,615 Decrease 12% 38,667 Decrease 4% 4 Increase 400%
2017 234,675 Decrease 22% 40,159 Decrease 4% 0 Decrease 100%
2016 300,061 Decrease 58% 41,640 Decrease 18% 14 Increase 250%
2015 712,553 Decrease 25% 50,802 Decrease 21% 4 Increase 400%
2014 945,434 Decrease 4% 64,096 Decrease 2% 0 Steady
2013 989,599 Increase 28% 65,487 Decrease 10% 0 Steady
2012 774,881 Decrease 2% 72,892 Increase 11% 0 Steady
2011 793,305 Increase 5% 65,854 Decrease 1% 0 Steady
2010 757,685 Increase 27% 66,650 Increase 14% 0 Steady
2009 598,360 Increase 7% 58,288 Increase 1% 0 Steady
2008 561,189 Decrease 26% 57,776 Increase 9% 0 Decrease 100%
2007 759,824 52,812 290

Note:
a: 2022 series provided by CCR is incomplete, starting May 1, 2022, the day CCR took over the facility.
b: Operations of regular scheduled flights ceased on June 30, 2019.

Accidents and incidents

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  • 31 May 1954: Transportes Aéreos Nacional, a Douglas DC-3/C-47A-80-DL, registration PP-ANO, en route from Governador Valadares to Belo Horizonte-Pampulha, strayed off course and struck the Cipó mountain range in cloudy conditions. All 19 passengers and crew died.[12][13]
  • 20 April 2021: a Learjet 35A belonging to Electric Power Construção, registration PT-MLA, 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.[14]
  • 6 March 2024: a Federal Police of Brazil Cessna 208 Grand Caravan, registration PR-AAB crashed on takeoff from runway 31. After takeoff, the engine failed and the pilots attempted an emergency landing on the opposite threshold. The aircraft collided with the ground. Two of the three onboard died.[15]

Access

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The airport is located 8 km (5 mi) from downtown Belo Horizonte.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Movimentação Aeroportuária". CCR (in Portuguese). Retrieved 11 February 2025.
  2. ^ "Pampulha". CCR Aeroportos (in Portuguese). Retrieved 29 May 2023.
  3. ^ "Aeródromos". ANAC (in Portuguese). 15 October 2019. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
  4. ^ "Pampulha - Carlos Drummond de Andrade (SBBH)". DECEA (in Portuguese). Retrieved 20 December 2023.
  5. ^ "Lei n˚11.002, de 16 de dezembro de 2004". Presidência da República (in Portuguese). 16 December 2004. Retrieved 15 October 2023.
  6. ^ "Portaria n 189/DGAC, de 8 de março de 2005" (PDF) (in Portuguese). Ministério da Aeronáutica; Departamento de Aviação Civil. 10 March 2005. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 August 2010. Retrieved 16 May 2011.
  7. ^ Rittner, Daniel; Braga, Paulo Victor (31 August 2009). "Infraero vai gastar R$5 bi em reforma de aeroportos". Valor Econômico (in Portuguese). pp. A4. Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
  8. ^ "Infraero passa Aeroporto da Pampulha para o estado de Minas Gerais". Agência Brasil (in Portuguese). 17 June 2020. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
  9. ^ "Aeroporto da Pampulha, em BH, é leiloado por R$ 34 milhões". Aeroin (in Portuguese). 5 October 2021. Retrieved 5 October 2021.
  10. ^ "Anuário Estatístico Operacional" (PDF). Infraero (in Portuguese). 12 April 2012. Retrieved 30 January 2025.
  11. ^ "Estatísticas". Infraero (in Portuguese). Retrieved 30 January 2025.
  12. ^ "Accident description PT-ANO". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
  13. ^ Germano da Silva, Carlos Ari César (2008). "Serra do Cipó". O rastro da bruxa: história da aviação comercial brasileira no século XX através dos seus acidentes 1928-1996 (in Portuguese) (2 ed.). Porto Alegre: EDIPUCRS. pp. 132–139. ISBN 978-85-7430-760-2.
  14. ^ "Accident description PR-MLA". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 24 December 2024.
  15. ^ "Accident description PR-AAB". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 24 December 2024.
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