Ponta Porã International Airport
Ponta Porã International Airport (PMG)
Located in the extreme west of Brazil, south of the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Ponta Porã borders the city of Pedro Juan Caballero, capital of the Department of Amambay, in Paraguay. Due to the city's strategic position, Ponta Porã International Airport, which had been serving domestic passenger traffic since 1955, when it was opened, became an international airport in 1974.
As the country's gateway, the air terminal plays an important role in the growth of the city and the region. The unit began to be managed by Aena Brasil on November 7, 2023, after the concessionaire purchased a block of 11 Brazilian airports in an auction by the National Civil Aviation Agency (Anac), held in 2022.
As it already runs, since 2020, six terminals in the Northeast, Aena Brasil manages, in total, 17 airports in the country. The company is part of the Spanish group Aena, considered the largest airport operator in the world in terms of number of passengers.
Air activity in Ponta Porã arose from the demand of the population on the Brazil-Paraguay border for urgent transport. In 1941, a flying club was opened, which received, in 1955, the status of an airport, being administered by the Air Force.
But it was only in 1967 that the airport gained a passenger terminal to serve the city's growing movement throughout the 1960s, when the economy, based on rural activity, — with the exploitation of yerba mate in Ponta Porã, and coffee in Pedro Juan Caballero — began to explore commercial activity and tourism by purchasing imported products, attracting more visitors.
The opening of the Brazilian economy and the favorable exchange rate of the national currency against the dollar, between 1993 and 1996, led Ponta Porã to experience a period of great passenger movement, a consequence of shopping tourism. At the time, the unit was already managed by Infraero, which took over the airport in 1980.
Under the company's management, the airport underwent works between 2011 and 2016. At that time, the runway was resurfaced, an operational fence was installed and the airport site was drained, in addition to equipment modernization. At the beginning of the 2020s, the unit underwent new works to adapt internal areas and the courtyard, with greater use of space, apart from the installation of a conveyor belt at arrivals and cafeterias.
At the helm of Ponta Porã International Airport for the next 30 years, the concession period, Aena Brasil will modernize the equipment and guarantee its users increasingly comfort and safety.