Bogota and Rionegro Handle Nearly 60% of All Air Travelers in Colombia
Colombia’s airports handled 50.05 million passengers during the first half of 2026, reflecting continued growth in domestic and international air travel across the country. Traffic increased by 2,48 million travelers compared with the same period in 2025, representing annual growth of 5.2%. Despite that nationwide expansion, Colombia’s aviation network remains highly concentrated, with Bogota’s El Dorado Airport and Jose Maria Cordova Airport in Rionegro jointly processing 29,806,492 passengers, equivalent to 59.6% of everyone who traveled by air between January and June.
Bogota and Rionegro dominate Colombia’s airports
El Dorado reaffirmed its position as Colombia’s dominant air hub, moving 22,648,368 passengers between January and June, a 4.2% increase that added 917,271 more travelers than it handled during the same stretch in 2025.
That volume alone gives the Bogota terminal a 45.3% share of the entire national market, meaning nearly one out of every two people who flew anywhere in Colombia passed through this single airport, splitting its traffic between 14,497,271 domestic passengers, up 3.8%, and 8,151,097 international travelers, up 5%. Jose Maria Cordova, the main terminal serving the Aburra Valley and eastern Antioquia, posted an even stronger growth rate, moving 7,158,124 passengers for a 6.2% increase and welcoming 415.926 more travelers than the previous year, giving it a 14.3% share of the national total.
Its domestic traffic climbed 7.1% to 5,141,320 passengers, while international arrivals and departures grew 3.9% to reach 2,016,804 travelers, cementing Rionegro’s position as Colombia’s second-busiest international gateway behind only Bogota. Every other airport in the country trails these two by a wide margin, since Cartagena’s Rafael Nunez came in third with 3,829,713 passengers, followed by Cali’s Alfonso Bonilla Aragon with 3,371,109, and Santa Marta’s Simon Bolivar closing out the top five with 1,831,533, none of them reaching even half of what Rionegro alone moved during the same period.
Smaller Colombia airports record the fastest passenger growth
While Bogota and Rionegro carry the largest share of total passengers, several smaller airports actually posted far steeper growth rates, showing that Colombia’s air travel expansion reaches beyond its two main hubs. San Andres led that trend by a wide margin, since its Gustavo Rojas Pinilla airport moved 1,449,380 passengers, a 19.6% jump that made it the fastest-growing terminal among the country’s major airports.
Monteria followed with a 15.6% increase to 778,136 passengers, while Barranquilla grew 11.7% to reach 1,745,199 travelers, and Bucaramanga’s Palonegro airport climbed 10.7% to 1,050,425 passengers. Pereira and Cali also posted solid gains of 9.4% and 7.4% respectively, standing in sharp contrast to Santa Marta, the only major airport in the country to actually lose passengers, falling 2.1% compared with the first half of 2025. Domestic travel drove most of this overall growth, since Colombia moved 38.04 million domestic passengers during the semester, a 5.5% increase representing 1.98 million additional travelers, while international flights added a more modest 496,556 passengers for 4.3% growth, reaching 12 million travelers total.
Cargo movement expanded alongside passenger traffic too, with Colombia’s airports handling 570,333 tons of freight and mail, up 5.2%, and El Dorado once again dominating this segment by concentrating 74.8% of all air cargo nationwide, followed by Jose Maria Cordova with a 12% share, reinforcing just how much of Colombia’s air infrastructure, whether measured in passengers or freight, still funnels through these same two terminals.