Capitán Vicente Almandos Almonacid Airport () is the main airport in La Rioja Province, Argentina serving the city of La Rioja. The airport is on the northeast side of the city.
The airport was named after the Argentine aviation pioneer Vicente Almandos Almonacid (es) (1882–1953).Vicente Almandos Almonacid at EarlyAviators.com
History
The airport was built in 1948, and was officially inaugurated with an LADE Vickers Viking flight on October 11, 1948 (linking La Rioja with Buenos Aires vía Río Cuarto, San Luis, Santa Rosa, and Córdoba). The first terminal was constructed in 1951. In 1952, Aerolíneas Argentinas started flying to La Rioja.
In 1969, the old north-south grass runway was replaced by the current asphalt Runway 03/21. In 1978, a new passenger terminal and 70 car parking lot were added. In 1990, the terminal was air conditioned.
The La Rioja VOR and non-directional beacon (idents: LAR) are located on the field.
Since March 16, 1999, it has been operated by Aeropuertos Argentina 2000.
A virtual airline named Alas La Rioja once operatedout of this airport, before cancelling flights in 2023.
Airlines and destinations
Statistics
+ Traffic by calendar year. Official ACI statistics. Passengers Change from previous year Aircraft operations Change from previous year Cargo(metric tons) Change from previous year200545,695 2.37% 1,916 8.19% 211 16.60%200648,755 6.70% 1,791 6.52% 237 12.32%200741,155 15.59% 1,416 20.94% 105 55.70%200834,070 17.22% 1,448 2.26% 81 22.86%200941,415 21.56% 1,945 34.32% 96 18.52%201035,821 13.51% 2,029 4.32% 86 10.42% Source: Airports Council International. World Airport Traffic Statistics(Years 2005-2010)
See also Transport in Argentina List of airports in Argentina
References
External links OpenStreetMap - Capitán Vicente A. Almonacid Airport OurAirports - Capitan V A Almonacid Airport
Accident history for IRJ at Aviation Safety Network