Viru Viru Airport

Viru Viru Internacional
Characteristics
ICAO code	SLVR
IATA code	VVI
Coordinates	17 ° 38 ′ 41 ″  S , 63 ° 8 ′ 7 ″  W Coordinates: 17 ° 38 ′ 41 ″  S , 63 ° 8 ′ 7 ″  W
Height above MSL	373 m (1224  ft )
Transport links
Distance from the city center	15 km north of Santa Cruz de la Sierra
Basic data
opening	1984
Passengers	1,050,000
Start-and runway
16/34	3500 m × 45 m concrete

Viru Viru Internacional airport ( IATA code : VVI , ICAO code : SLVR ) is an airport near Santa Cruz de la Sierra , the capital of the Santa Cruz department in Bolivia . It is located approx. 15 km north of Santa Cruz and is the home airport of Boliviana de Aviación , the largest airline in Bolivia after AeroSur ceased operations .

Viru Viru is 371 m (1217 ft) above sea level and has a runway with a length of 3500 m (11,483 ft) and a width of 45 m (148 ft).

Viru Viru was opened in 1984 after a five-year construction period and has largely replaced the old El Trompillo Airport (IATA code: SRZ) as a commercial airport , which is located about 3 km south of the city center and, following the growth of Santa Cruz in recent decades, is surrounded by urban development and can no longer be enlarged.

Planned expansion

In 2015, the government announced that it would develop Viru Viru Airport into an international aviation hub for passenger and cargo flights by 2019 . A second, larger terminal and an additional runway are to be financed with an investment of at least 300 million US dollars. After the expansion, the airport should be able to handle up to 8 million passengers per year, which corresponds to a tripling of the capacity. According to the responsible minister, the airports in Lima and São Paulo are reaching their capacity limits and cannot be expanded any further, which is why Viru Viru is an ideal alternative.

To date (2019), however, the expansion has not yet started.

See also

• List of airports in Bolivia

Web links

• Airport data on World Aero Data ( 2006 )
• Airport data in the Aviation Safety Network (English)
• Viru Viru Airport website (Spanish)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ La Razón Viru Viru será una mega terminal aérea internacional ( Spanish )
2. ↑ La Razón Aeropuerto Intercontinental Viru Viru ... ( Spanish )