Salvador International Airport
Salvador – Deputado Luís Eduardo Magalhães International Airport , formerly called Dois de Julho International Airport is the airport serving Salvador, Brazil. Since 16 June 1998 the airport is named after (1955–1998), an influential politician of the state of Bahia. It is operated by Vinci SA. Some of its facilities are shared with the Salvador Air Force Base of the Brazilian Air Force. History. The airport, originally called Santo Amaro do Ipitanga Airport, was founded in 1925. In 1941 Panair do Brasil participating in the World War II efforts with the support of the American and Brazilian governments completely  rebuilt the facility. On 20 December 1955, the airport had its name changed for the first time: it became known as Dois de Julho International Airport, celebrating Bahia Independence Day. This is still the name by which the population of Salvador da Bahia call the facility. On 16 June 1998 the airport name was again changed to its present form, honoring Luís Eduardo Maron Magalhães (1955–1998) an influential politician of the state of Bahia. This second change remains however controversial and there have been attempts to revert it. The airport is located in an area of more than 6 million  square meters between sand dunes and native vegetation. The lush, bamboo-covered road to the airport has become one of the scenic attractions of Salvador da Bahia. A brand new passenger terminal was opened in 1998, replacing the original outdated terminal. This new terminal continued to be upgraded and was completed by the end of year 2000. The main terminal, which includes a shopping mall has 69,400 m, 11 jetways and a capacity to handle 6,000,000 passengers/year. Traffic has been growing at an average of 14% per year. Previously operated by Infraero, on 16 March 2017, the concession of  the facility was won by Vinci SA, for which it paid R$ 2,35 billions (€ 640 millions). The concession is for a period of 30 years. The new concessionary plans to duplicate the passenger terminal. On 26 April 2018, the Aeroporto station on Line 2 of the Salvador Metro opened to the public. Access. The airport is located north from downtown Salvador da Bahia. A free shuttle bus runs every 15 minutes from 5am to 1am to Aeroporto station on the Salvador Metro, which connects to downtown Salvador at Lapa.