Hi, dear flight-report members and readers!
In this nostalgic FR I'd like to review a short domestic flight in Colombia from Medellin Jose Maria Cordova airport (MDE) to Santa Marta (SMR) - from the Andes to the Caribbean coast - on a LATAM A319 (the already published FRs from this trip: ISL-BOG + BOG-PTY on TK A332, CTG-BGA on VE AT45, and BOG-PEI on VE AT45).
In 2016 and 2017 during my trips to Chile I flew the whole spectrum of the widebody fleet LATAM had back then: SCL-GRU on B789 (see the "nostalgic" section of my AKL-SCL FR) and GRU-SCL on B788 in 2016, MXP-GRU on A359, GRU-SCL on B77W and SCL-GRU + GRU-SCL on B763.
Now it was time to try a LA narrowboby. LA was the most obvious option to fly from Medellin to Santa Marta.
Bonus-Intro: Planespotting In Medellin Olaya Herrera Airport (EOH)
I want to start this FR with the bonus from EOH. This small airport, located in the southern part of Medellin city close to Poblado LRT station, was the first thing I saw in Medellin early morning of 3 March 2018, when I arrived at the adjacent bus Terminal Sur on a night bus from Armenia town in Eje Cafetero.
EOH's ATC tower with the surrounding mountains on the backdrop. Medellin is very scenic city and its brick favelas, clinging to the hills and mountain slopes, only add to the colorite.
The area near the entrance to the EOH terminal.
The EOH terminal.
A memorial to Carlos Gardel - famous French-born Argentinian singer, songwriter, composer and actor, who played the most prominent role in the history of tango. Gardel was born in Toulouse - the current home of Airbus - in 1890 and died 24 June 1935 in airplane crash in Medellin airport, which is now EOH. Gardel was buried on Chacarita cemetery in Buenos Aires.
EOH terminal interiors.
FID for arrivals and departures. EOH serves only regional domestic flights within Colombia. Since then ADA disappeared and EasyFly was rebranded to Clic and completely renewed its fleet.
The another side of EOH terminal.
Here, in memoriam of pre-Covid times with their variety, which faded away during the pandemic, I'll show photos of the planespotting in EOH.
E145 (HK-4525) of SATENA (Servicio Aéreo a Territorios Nacionales), which still operates it (and its sistership HK-4535 as well), but plans to retire them in favor of turboprops.
BAe Jetstream 32EP (HK-4803) of SARPA Colombia, which was transferred to Moon Flights (founded in 2021) fleet since. SARPA still exists with the fleet of 3 Jetstream 32s.
Beechcraft 1900C (HK-4600) of Searca (Servicio Aereo de Capurgana) - a charter airlne, operating small jets and turboprops.
BAe Jetstream 41 (HK-4502) of EasyFly. It was the last days of this plane in operation - it was phased out in March 2018 and then scrapped. In April 2019 all the remaining Jetstreams of VE shared this fate. It's sad that I missed an opportunity to fly a similar Jetstream on CTG-BGA due to swap to AT45.
Piper PA-11-350 Navajo Chieftain (HK-5121) of AeroPaca.
A private Ibis Magic GS700 (HJ-003).
A beautiful variety of SATENA: AT46 (HK-5130), E145 (HK-4525) and Harbin Y-12E (HK-5036). The latter type was retired from the fleet since.
HK-5130 taking off.
BAe Jetstream 32EP (HK-4548) of ADA Colombia. ADA ceased its operations a year after, in late March 2019.
Its sistership HK-4381.
Dornier Do-328-120 (HK-4533) of ADA Colombia. After ADA went bust, it joined Regional One fleet in US, but shortly after - in October 2023 - was stored in YYC.
HK-4533 taking off. One can also see how far up goes Medellin.
Medellin Jose Maria Cordova International Airport (MDE)
MDE is located in quite a distance (20 km) south-east of the Medellin city centre and is connected with the city by bus service (from 2019 the new highway with a tunnell through the mountains was inaugurated which shortened ride time 3 times - down to 20 minutes).
MDE is the second-largest airport in Colombia after BOG and is ranked 14th in the list of the busiest airports in Latin America as of 2025 (for comparison, GIG is 11th, VCP is 16th, and EZE is 19th).
MDE was opened is 1985 as EOH, surrounded by the city, became unable to cope with the increasing traffic. MDE is able to handle A380, and in 2006 a test flight on a whalejet, which was undergoing the type certification process back then, was performed to MDE.
MDE terminal built as a segment of circle and has dome roof. The international and domestic piers are in the opposite ends of the terminal.
The main building and the international pier.
The domestic pier.
The ATC tower and the main building from the departures level.
List of airlines with some nostalgic vibes at the entrance.
"See you soon" in different languages.
Advertisement of Avianca Tours.
The terminal map as of 2018.
View of luggage claim hall from the arrivals level.
View of the check-in hall from the departures level.
Bust of Jose Maria Cordova - a Colombian army general, who was born in Rionegro town nearby MDE.
Self check-in machines.
Air Panama, Avior and Wingo check-in desks.
Avianca check-in desks.
LATAM check-in desks.
My BP.
A workplace of shoes-cleaning service, which is common in some Latin America countries.
Souvenir shop with scale models of aircrafts and cars.
A shop with ron and coffee.
Juan Valdez cafe and ATMs.
Colombian souvenir shop.
One of the two mezzanines with food courts.
An information desk below.
Views of the check-in hall from the mezzanines.
The entrance to the international pier.
View of the terminal and its roof, and of the ATC tower from the mezzanine level, which is connected by bridges with the car parking.
FIDs for international and domestic departures.
Let's go to the domestic airside. The hall of the domestic pier after the security control.
Gates in the end face of the pier.
Gallery of the gates along the pier with some shops and cafes.
The design of the gates.
A library with some books which seem to be actual for today's world 8 years since.
A couple of seemingly experienced travellers.
A view of the terminal from the jetbridge (while boarding my flight).
Planespotting in MDE
Planespotting in MDE airport turned to be quite interesting, even though MDE sees much less traffic than BOG.
Let's start with some airplanes seen outside of the terminal.
1997-built B734 (YV3317) of Avior, bound for CCS. Since November 2019 this aircraft is stored in BLA.
A F100 of Air Panama, bound for Panama Albrook (PAC). Sadly, the view was obstructed by the gate, and it was not possible to find a good angle of view. Air Panama phased out all its F100s by mid-2019.
A319SL (N4005X) of AA, arriving from MIA.
Let's continue with the aircrafts, seen from the terminal.
An AV Cargo A332F - the only widebody I saw in MDE that day. Though, MDE few days per week also sees B788s of AV and UX, which connect the airport with MAD.
A couple of small private turboprops.
IAE-powered A319SL (N694AV) of AV. The combination of IAE engines and winglets is very rare for A319s. This aircraft was phased out in 2023 and scrapped, being just 9 y.o. Apparently, AV decided to get rid of IAE-powered birds to streamline its "ceo" Airbus fleet to only CFM-powered.
CFM-powered A319 (N691AV) of AV in the old "juicy" livery, which was repainted into the new livery since.
E190 (HP-1566CMP) of CM. In 2019 it was phased out of CM fleet and since then joined German Airways fleet.
A couple of small similar private turboprops.
BAe Jetstream 41 (HK-4522) of EasyFly. I already saw this aircraft in Bucaramanga Palonegro airport after CTG-BGA flight on VE AT45 (which was supposed to be operated on a similar Jetstream but suffered an a/c change).
B737 (HP-1377CMP) of Wingo. Back then Wingo operated a small fleet of 4 B737s, which then were transferred to CM and, in turn, Wingo got 10 B738s (all but one being the older ones with ancient interiors) from CM.
One more E190 (HP-1562CMP) of CM. It was phased out of CM fleet in March 2020 and since then joined QantasLink fleet in Australia.
A318 (N598EL) of AV. All AV A318s were phased out in September-December 2019 and then scrapped. This one was phased out the last.
N598EL at the gate and 2 AV A320s - with and without sharklets.
IAE-powered A321SL (N725AV) of AV. In March 2020 it was phased out from AV fleet and since joined the fleet of the Mexican ULCC Viva (former Viva Aerobus, not to be mixed with now-defunct Colombian Viva).
One more small private turboprop.
A320 (HK-4818) of now-defunct Viva Air Colombia and a colorite Ford refueler. The aircraft was phased out in late August 2019 and since then is stored.
The Aircraft
And here's my ride - 2005-built IAE-powered A319 (CC-CPF), which back then was in the old LAN livery. This was my first time flying a LATAM narrowbody.
The Cabin
This A319 has all-economy Y144 layout with old-style well-padded seats with headrestst, "leather" upholstery and (defunct) audiosystem in the thick armrests.
This A319, despite being built in 2005, features old interiors. From 2005 the newer A320ceo family planes started to feature the modern interiors. Note that right-side seat triplets are designated as JKL, which is nonstandard for narrowbodies, but aligns with LATAM's designation in widebodies. My seat was 20L.
The seatpocket contained A LOT of content back then: safety card, inflight magazine, buy-on-board catalog, LATAM Travel catalog, passenger guide and waste bag.
Some examples of the inflight magazine's content: LATAM's fleet back in March 2018, international network, domestic networks of LATAM Chile, LATAM Argentina (discontinued in June 2020), LATAM Paraguay, LATAM Peru, LATAM Ecuador, LATAM Colombia and LATAM Brasil…
… and travel guide on Sao Paulo - the powerhouse of South America, travel guide on some EU and US and some Argentinian destinations, photos of air views made by LATAM's passengers, some aviation terms for the beginners and information about then-freshly renovated FCO international pier E.
The Flight
View of the MDE terminal, AV A321SL (N725AV), Viva and AV A320s and of surrounding mountains.
Takeoff from MDE. As one can see, the window was in disastrous state, which is a shame, and the aircraft's age is not an excuse. LATAM's widebodies I fly before were in impeccable state.
An inflight view of the cabin.
Crossing Magdalena river - the main river of Colombia.
Beautiful skies not far from the Caribbean coast.
Crossing the long Isla de Salamanca near Cienaga, which delimits the vast Santuario de Flora y Fauna Cienaga Grande de Santa Marta from the Caribbean sea.
Scenic descent and approach to SMR over the Caribbean sea. If only the window was in normal state…
View of the SMR terminal.
Vacating the runway.
A private Piper PA-34-200T Seneca II (HK-5046-G).
View of the aircraft and of the coastal cordillera from the jetbridge after the flight.
Santa Marta Simon Bolivar International Airport (SMR)
SMR is located 14 km south of Santa Marta city. In February 2018, shorty before my visit, the SMR terminal was renovated and since looks quite modern.
A view of the airside from the arrival gallery.
FIDs for arrivals. Quite a mix of Avianca, LATAM and Viva (now-defunct), mostly from BOG.
Check-in hall.
The landside of the terminal has a mezzanine with foodcourt and Colombian souvenir shop.
This mezzanine provides excellent views of the Caribbean sea and of the coastal mountains.
Pelicans, floating on the waves.
The entrance to the terminal.
The SMR terminal from the outside. The airport is connected to the city centre by bus service.
Thank you for your attention and see you in the next FRs!
