Imperatriz Airport
Encyclopedia
Imperatriz-Prefeito Renato Moreira Airport is the airport serving Imperatriz
Imperatriz
Imperatriz is the second most populated city in the Brazilian state of Maranhão. The city extends along the right bank of the Tocantins River and is crossed by the Belém-Brasília Highway, standing on the border with the state of Tocantins....

, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

. It is named after a former mayor of Imperatriz.

It is operated by Infraero
Infraero
Empresa Brasileira de Infraestrutura Aeroportuária, Infraero in short, is a Brazilian government corporation created in 1972 and responsible for operating the main Brazilian commercial airports. In 2009, Infraero's airports carried 128,135,616 passengers and 1,114,754 tons of cargo and operated...

.

History

Imperatriz has a long tradition of air services, which started with at the end of the 1930s with Syndicato Condor
Serviços Aéreos Cruzeiro do Sul
Serviços Aéreos Cruzeiro do Sul, was the second oldest airline of Brazil, tracing its origins to 1927, when it was founded as Syndicato Condor, a subsidiary of Deutsche Luft Hansa. Syndicato Condor retained rights and interests of a former German trade company, Condor Syndikat, which previously...

 using seaplanes which landed at Tocantins River
Tocantins River
The Tocantins is a river in Brazil, the central fluvial artery of the country. In the Tupi language, its name means "toucan's beak" . It runs from south to north for about 2,640 km. It is not really a branch of the Amazon River, although usually so considered, since its waters flow into the...

.

At the end of World War II, the first airport with a 1,200m x 30m earth runway was operational but it was subject to flooding during the rainy season. Even so, Cruzeiro do Sul
Serviços Aéreos Cruzeiro do Sul
Serviços Aéreos Cruzeiro do Sul, was the second oldest airline of Brazil, tracing its origins to 1927, when it was founded as Syndicato Condor, a subsidiary of Deutsche Luft Hansa. Syndicato Condor retained rights and interests of a former German trade company, Condor Syndikat, which previously...

, Real-Aerovias
Real Transportes Aéreos
Real Transportes Aéreos was a Brazilian airline founded in 1945. It was merged into Varig in 1961, when Varig bought the Consórcio Real-Aerovias-Nacional, of which Real was the main carrier....

 and later Varig
Varig
VARIG was the first airline founded in Brazil, in 1927. From 1965 until 1990 it was Brazil's leading and almost only international airline...

 maintained regular operations to Imperatriz.

Around the end of the 1960s studies were made for a completely new facility and the site of the present airport was chosen. The airport was inaugurated in 1981 at the same time that the older facility was closed.

Airlines and destinations

Accidents and incidents

  • 18 April 1984: two Votec Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante
    Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante
    The Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante is a general purpose 15-21 passenger twin-turboprop light transport aircraft suitable for military and civil duties...

     registrations PT-GJZ and PT-GKL collided on air, while on approach to land at Imperatriz. PT-GJZ was flying from São Luís
    Marechal Cunha Machado International Airport
    Marechal Cunha Machado International Airport , formerly called Tirirical Airport, is the airport serving São Luís, Brazil. Since October 17, 1985 the airport is named after Marechal Cunha Machado.It is operated by Infraero.-History:...

     to Imperatriz and crashed on ground killing all of its 18 passengers and crew. PT-GKL was flying from Belém-Val de Cães
    Val de Cães International Airport
    Belém-Val de Cães/Júlio Cezar Ribeiro International Airport is the main airport serving Belém, Brazil. Val de Cães, the name of the neighborhood where the airport is located, is the most common spelling although Val de Cans is also considered correct...

    to Imperatriz and its pilot was able to make an emergency landing on Tocantins river. One passenger of its 17 passenger and crew died.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK