Afonso Pena International Airport

This article may require copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone, or spelling. You can assist by editing it. (April 2012)

Afonso Pena International Airport Aeroporto Internacional Afonso Pena
The airport and the Japanese Government aircraft (B747-400) during the visit of the Emperor Akihito in 1997.
IATA: CWB – ICAO: SBCT
Summary
Airport type		Public
Operator		Infraero
Serves		Curitiba
Location		São José dos Pinhais, Brazil
Elevation AMSL		911 m / 2,988 ft
Coordinates		25°31′52″S 049°10′32″W / 25.53111°S 49.17556°W / -25.53111; -49.17556Coordinates: 25°31′52″S 049°10′32″W / 25.53111°S 49.17556°W / -25.53111; -49.17556
Website		Infraero CWB
Map
CWB Location in Brazil
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
	m	ft
11/29	1,800	5,905	Asphalt
15/33	2,215	7,267	Asphalt
Statistics (2011)
Passengers			6,964,581
Aircraft Operations			94,143
Metric tonnes of cargo			36,681
Statistics: Infraero[1] Sources: Airport Website,[2] ANAC[3]

Afonso Pena International Airport (IATA: CWB, ICAO: SBCT) is the main airport serving Curitiba, Brazil, located in the adjoining municipality of São José dos Pinhais. It is named after Afonso Augusto Moreira Pena (1847–1909), the 6th President of Brazil.

In 2011 the airport was ranked 10^th in terms of transported passengers and cargo handled in Brazil, placing it amongst the busiest airports in the country.^[4] It is operated by Infraero.

History

As it was the case with many important Brazilian airports located in strategic points along the coast, Afonso Pena, was built by the Brazilian Air Force Ministry in partnership with the United States Army during the Second World War. However since its construction was completed only in 1945, short before the end of the war, Afonso Pena never saw heavy military movement. In 1946 most of its movement comprised civil operations.

The original passenger terminal was in use until 1959 when a brand new terminal was built. This second terminal is today used for cargo operations. In 1996, the present passenger terminal was built.

The main problem of the airport are the unstable weather conditions of the region, particularly mist in the morning hours of winter and the fact that the auxiliary runway 11/29 is too small and plagued with old equipment. There are also plans to upgrade runway 15/33 from an ILS CAT II runway to ILS CAT III.

Since the bottleneck for the airport is the cargo capacity, the main runway was lengthened in 2008 to allow cargo flights to operate with greater loads and the cargo terminal was upgraded.^[5]

The terminal is 26,000 m², has 6 jetways, and is capable of handling 4.5 million passengers annually. There are 800 parking places. The airport complex includes a small museum, a playcenter and a mall with 60 stores inside the main terminal.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Scheduled cargo

Accidents and incidents

Accidents

• 16 June 1958: Cruzeiro do Sul, a Convair 440-59 registration PP-CEP flying from Florianópolis to Curitiba was on final approach procedures to land at Curitiba when it was caught in downdrafts. The aircraft descended and struck the ground. Of the 26 passengers and crew aboard, 21 died.^[6]
• 3 November 1967: Sadia, a Handley Page Dart Herald 214 registration PP-SDJ flying from São Paulo-Congonhas to Curitiba collided with a hill during approach to land at Curitiba. All crew and 21 passengers died, 4 passengers survived.^[7]
• 26 December 2002: Brazilian Air Force, an Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante registration FAB-2292 en route from São Paulo-Campo de Marte to Florianópolis Air Force Base, crashed while trying to carry out an emergency landing at Curitiba-Afonso Pena. Reportedly, both engines had quit. The airplane had taken off with insufficient fuel on board to complete the flight to Florianópolis. Three passengers and crew of the 16 aboard died.^[8]

Incident

• 18 August 2000: VASP, a Boeing 737-2A1 registration PP-SMG en route from Foz do Iguaçu to Curitiba-Afonso Pena was hijacked by 5 persons with the purpose of robbing BRL 5 million (approximately USD 2.75 Million) that the aircraft was transporting. The pilot was forced to land at Porecatu where the hijackers fled with the money. There were no victims.^[9][10]

Access

The airport is located 18 km (11 mi) southeast of downtown Curitiba.

Future developments

Aerial view of the passenger terminal

On 31 August 2009, Infraero unveiled a BRL30 million (USD16 million; EUR11 million) investiment plan to upgrade Afonso Pena International Airport focusing on the preparations for the 2014 FIFA World Cup which will be held in Brazil, Curitiba being one of the venue cities. The investiment will invested in the enlargement of the apron and implementation of taxiways with completion due in March 2011.^[11]

See also

• List of the busiest airports in Brazil

References

Panoramic view of the passenger boarding gates and jetbridges

External links

	Aviation portal
	Brazil portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Aeroporto Internacional Afonso Pena

• Airport information for SBCT at World Aero Data. Data current as of October 2006.Source: DAFIF.
• Airport information for SBCT at Great Circle Mapper. Source: DAFIF (effective Oct. 2006).
• Current weather for SBCT at NOAA/NWS
• Accident history for CWB at Aviation Safety Network
• Curitiba-Afonso Pena International Airport Photo Archive at airliners.net