Comandante Espora Airport , also known as Bahía Blanca Airport, is a domestic airport in Bahía Blanca, Argentina, which is served by Aerolíneas Argentinas and LADE.
The airport shares its runways and its name with Comandante Espora Air Naval Base (), named after Tomás Espora, a naval officer who fought in the 1810-25 Argentine War of Independence. Comandante Espora is the main base of the Argentine Navy‘s air arm, the Argentine Naval Aviation. The base was given the identifier BACE by the navy.
History
Comandante Espora Air Naval Base was built in the 1930s to replace the old Puerto Belgrano Air Naval Base, which could not support the more modern aircraft that the Argentine Naval Aviation was adding. The new base was built in grounds close to the existing Bahía Blanca Airfield (Spanish: Aeródromo Civil de Bahía Blanca, also known as Villa Harding Green), located approximately 5 kilometers from Bahía Blanca and 25 kilometers from Puerto Belgrano Naval Base. The new airfield was opened on 16 June 1939.BASE AERONAVAL "COMANDANTE ESPORA" (BACE) - "Histarmar" website (accessed 2015-08-09)
Between 1945 and 1964 it was the location of the Naval Aviation School, and in 1970 the headquarters of were relocated to Comandante Espora.
From 1968 the airport was opened to civil and commercial traffic replacing the old civil airstrip at Villa Harding Green. The installations and runway were expanded and in 1972 were released to the commercial traffic linking the Argentine South. In September 1977, the runways were extended to allow aircraft of Boeing 767 size.
Airlines and destinations
References
External links
Aeropuerto de Bahia Blanca "Comandante Espora" at Organismo Regulador del Sistema Nacional de Aeropuertos
Accident history for BHI at Aviation Safety Network BASES AERONAVALES DE LA ARMADA ARGENTINA - BASE AERONAVAL "COMANDANTE ESPORA" (BACE) (HistArMar website) Accessed 09-Aug-2015