| Capitán Vicente Almandos Almonacid Airport | |
| Nativename: | Spanish; Castilian: Aeropuerto de La Rioja |
| Iata: | IRJ |
| Icao: | SANL |
| Pushpin Map: | Argentina |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location of airport in Argentina |
| Pushpin Label: | IRJ |
| Pushpin Label Position: | right |
| Type: | Public |
| Operator: | Aeropuertos Argentina 2000 |
| City-Served: | La Rioja, Argentina |
| Elevation-F: | 1449 |
| Coordinates: | -29.3806°N -66.7958°W |
| Metric-Rwy: | y |
| R1-Number: | 03/21 |
| R1-Length-M: | 2860 |
| R1-Surface: | Asphalt |
| Stat-Year: | 2016 |
| Stat1-Header: | Total Passengers |
| Stat1-Data: | 63.096[1] |
| Footnotes: | Source: WAD[2] GCM Google Maps[3] SkyVector[4] |
Capitán Vicente Almandos Almonacid Airport (Spanish; Castilian: Aeropuerto de La Rioja - Capitán Vicente Almandos Almonacid), is the main airport in La Rioja Province, Argentina serving the city of La Rioja. The airport is on the northeast side of the city.
The airport was named after the Argentine aviation pioneer Vicente Almandos Almonacid (es) (1882 - 1953).[5]
The airport was built in 1948, and was officially inaugurated with an LADE Vickers Viking flight on October 11, 1948 (linking La Rioja with Buenos Aires vía Río Cuarto, San Luis, Santa Rosa, and Córdoba). The first terminal was constructed in 1951. In 1952, Aerolíneas Argentinas started flying to La Rioja.
In 1969, the old north-south grass runway was replaced by the current asphalt Runway 03/21. In 1978, a new passenger terminal and 70 car parking lot were added. In 1990, the terminal was air conditioned.
The La Rioja VOR and non-directional beacon (Idents: LAR) are located on the field.[6] [7]
Since March 16, 1999, it has been operated by Aeropuertos Argentina 2000.
A virtual airline named Alas La Rioja once operatedout of this aitport, before cancelling flights in 2023.[8]
| Passengers | Change from previous year | Aircraft operations | Change from previous year | Cargo (metric tons) | Change from previous year | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | 45,695 | 2.37% | 1,916 | 8.19% | 211 | 16.60% | |
| 2006 | 48,755 | 6.70% | 1,791 | 6.52% | 237 | 12.32% | |
| 2007 | 41,155 | 15.59% | 1,416 | 20.94% | 105 | 55.70% | |
| 2008 | 34,070 | 17.22% | 1,448 | 2.26% | 81 | 22.86% | |
| 2009 | 41,415 | 21.56% | 1,945 | 34.32% | 96 | 18.52% | |
| 2010 | 35,821 | 13.51% | 2,029 | 4.32% | 86 | 10.42% | |
| Source: Airports Council International. World Airport Traffic Statistics (Years 2005-2010) | |||||||