Palonegro Airport
Palonegro Airport
Palonegro International Airport (IATA: BGA, ICAO: SKBG) is an international airport located 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) west of Bucaramanga in the Santander Department of Colombia. The airport serves the Bucaramanga Metropolitan Area and surrounding towns and is served by domestic and international flights. The airport was built over the mountains surrounding the Bucaramanga plateau. A mountain road connects the city with the airport, which is located at about 1,200 m above sea level. The airport was built on the site of the Battle of Palonegro, which took place during the Thousand Days War in the early 20th century. The airport receives flights from major cities in Colombia as well as international flights from Panama City and the United States. The main terminal is 25 minutes from the city in the fast lane of the highway west to Giron. It is currently the eighth largest airport in Colombia in terms of passenger movement.
Location
7.127°N, 73.185°O · 1.188 m s. n. m. (3.897 ft)
General data
Runways · 1
Lengths and surfaces from the public OurAirports register; open runways only.
Radio frequencies · 5 Official publication
Tower
ATIS (automatic information)
Approach
Frequencies from the official publication: AIP Colombia (Aerocivil), AMDT 73/26 · 01 OCT 2026, checked on Oct 16, 2026. They change with each amendment: not for navigation without checking the current AIP. See the official publication In MHz.
History
Bucaramanga was formerly served by Gómez Niño Airport, which was built by SCADTA in late 1938, when operations began with Junkers F-13 aircraft. The airport was purchased by the Colombian Aerodrome Administration in 1954 and was one of the few airports in Colombia that operated two runways simultaneously. Their X-configuration allowed their use depending on the prevailing winds. Avianca and Taxader had its headquarters at the airport. Gómez Niño was located within the urban area of the city. It had poor conditions for security and air navigation, and was the site of several fatal air accidents. The new Palonegro airport was therefore constructed. Construction began in 1967, and included major levelling work as the site consisted of a number of hills and canyons up to 60 metres deep. The new airport was opened by the President Misael Pastrana in August 1974, and the inaugural flight took place on a Boeing 727 Avianca, commanded by Captain Alvaro Barrera Gómez. The total cost of construction was $230 million pesos.
Airlines operating here · 7
Other airlines with direct routes
Airlines with current passenger routes from here, according to Wikipedia route tables cross-checked from both ends (October 2026).
Photo: Pablo Andrés Ortega Chávez · GFDL 1.2 · view original
Data from OurAirports (public domain) · destinations and airlines from Wikipedia route tables (CC BY-SA, 2026), unless another source is given · profile and photo from Wikidata/Wikimedia Commons (CC0 / CC) · summary and history from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).
Cite
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This page was last updated on October 15, 2026
APA
Vuelopedia. (2026, October 15). Palonegro Airport (BGA). Retrieved October 23, 2026, from https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/BGA
MLA
“Palonegro Airport (BGA).” Vuelopedia, Fundación Poderia, 15 Oct. 2026, vuelopedia.org/en/airport/BGA. Accessed 23 Oct. 2026.
Chicago
Vuelopedia. “Palonegro Airport (BGA).” Fundación Poderia. Last modified October 15, 2026. https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/BGA.
Harvard
Vuelopedia (2026) Palonegro Airport (BGA). Available at: https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/BGA (Accessed: 23 October 2026).
BibTeX
@misc{vuelopedia_en_airport_bga,
author = {{Vuelopedia}},
title = {{Palonegro Airport (BGA)}},
publisher = {Fundación Poderia},
year = {2026},
date = {2026-10-15},
url = {https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/BGA},
howpublished = {\url{https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/BGA}},
urldate = {2026-10-23},
note = {Accessed 2026-10-23}
}Wikipedia
{{cite web |url=https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/BGA |title=Palonegro Airport (BGA) |website=Vuelopedia |publisher=Fundación Poderia |date=2026-10-15 |access-date=2026-10-23 |language=en}}