El Dorado International Airport

El Dorado International Airport is the busiest airport in Colombia, the third-busiest in Latin America after Mexico City (MEX) and São Paulo (GRU), and the largest cargo airport in Latin America by tonnage, serving 48 airlines on 234 routes to 103 nonstop destinations. Located on the Bogotá savanna 15 km (9.3 mi) west of the city center, BOG's elevation of 8,361 ft (2,548 m) makes it one of the highest-altitude major international airports in the world — a factor that reduces air density, extends required runway lengths, and imposes weight and range penalties on every departing flight. The airport is the principal hub of Avianca, Latin America's second-oldest airline (founded 1919) and the flag carrier of Colombia, as well as a focus city for LATAM Colombia, Wingo, and Copa. BOG's central location on the northern crown of South America makes it a natural connecting pivot between North America, the Caribbean, and the Andean and Southern Cone markets, and Avianca's Star Alliance membership routes a significant share of US–Andean and US–Ecuadorian/Peruvian traffic through the hub. The airport handles more cargo than any other in Latin America, driven by the country's flower export industry: roughly 70 percent of flowers sold in the United States for Valentine's Day and Mother's Day transit through BOG. El Dorado operates two parallel asphalt runways — 14L/32R and 14R/32L, both 12,467 ft (3,800 m) long and 148 ft (45 m) wide — with the separation and length required for independent simultaneous operations at altitude. Two terminals serve traffic: the main Terminal 1 (El Dorado T1) handling all commercial passenger operations and the separate Puente Aéreo terminal 1 km north, which Avianca operates as a dedicated domestic shuttle facility for high-frequency routes to Medellín, Cali, and Cartagena.