Jose Maria Córdova International Airport
Facts on MDE
MDE's code comes straight from the city it serves — MeDEllin — even though the airport itself sits in the neighboring town of Rionegro, roughly 21 miles (35 km) and up to an hour's drive from downtown Medellín.
Source: Medellin Guru
The airport is named for General José María Córdova, a Colombian independence-era army general who was born in Rionegro, the same town where the airport was ultimately built.
Source: Wikipedia - José María Córdova International Airport
José María Córdova International Airport opened on 29 August 1985 after Medellín's old in-city airport, Olaya Herrera, became too congested to expand; planners picked the San Nicolás valley site in Rionegro over an alternative near Barbosa.
Source: Wikipedia - José María Córdova International Airport
The terminal building was constructed with a dome-shaped roof over two stories; it holds 17 gates — 10 domestic and 7 international, four of them mixed-use — alongside duty-free shopping, restaurants, and several airline VIP lounges.
Source: Wikipedia
In January 2006, an Airbus A380 landed at José María Córdova to run engine tests — the first time that aircraft type touched down on Colombian soil, and the first A380 landing anywhere in South America.
Source: Wikipedia
A renovation completed in December 2017 enlarged the domestic terminal from 41,350 to 50,000 square meters and added eight new gates, lifting the airport's passenger-handling capacity to 11 million a year at a cost of US$350 million.
Source: Wikipedia
The airport is Antioquia's main export gateway for flowers and other agricultural goods, and hosts Avianca Cargo's main base, which flies freight across South, Central and North America from a dedicated cargo terminal.
Source: Wikipedia
On 28 November 2016, LaMia Flight 2933 crashed on approach to José María Córdova carrying the Chapecoense football team to a Copa Sudamericana final, killing 71 of the people aboard and leaving six survivors.
Source: Wikipedia