The local Medellin airport - Enrique Olaya Herrera

The Medellin airport is not to be confused with the international Jose Maria Cordova airport in Rionegro.

Enrique Olaya Herrera used to be the main airport for Medellin, but given the surrounding mountains and frequent turbulence, I'm glad it no longer is.

I find we don't use the airport much although there are definite advantages if you're flying domestically, especially given the airports' central location.

Local flights include the following destinations:

Armenia, Bahia Solano, Bucaramanga, Capurgana, Manizales, Pereira, Cucuta, Bogota, Bucaramanga and Cali among other.

Local airlines operating out of Enrique Olaya Herrera are:

Aires, Satena, Easy Fly and ADA (Aerolinea de Antioquia)

We flew to Capurgana on the coast in a small twin propeller aircraft a few years ago - it was a fun flight with a great view of the mountains and river but also a little bumpy. The landing in Capurgana was like skidding around a race track in order to make the landing strip in the jungle. Exciting stuff!

Recently we also flew to Cartagena which is a national flight but from the International airport in Rionegro and all in all, I'm not sure that the advantages of flying from the local one outweigh the fact that it is fairly small with small planes and less organized than its bigger counterpart.

Having lived here now for a total of two years and travelled all over for 10 while visiting Colombia, it seems the flights we book never fly from the local airport, so I've lost interest to be honest. Also, the drive to Rionegro is only about 30-45 minutes and in some years a tunnel will cut through the mountain separating Medellin from the Rionegro which will make it even more convenient. Another factor to bear in mind is that when it rains here, it can be extreme. I would not like to land in a small prop plane in this valley during one of the fierce storms we see frequently these days.

Return from Medellin Airport to Medellin Colombia

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