Afonso Pena International Airport (IATA: CWB, ICAO: SBCT) is a Brazilian airport located in São José dos Pinhais, in Greater Curitiba, 18 km from the center of the capital of Paraná.
The airport was opened in 1944, as a military aerodrome, in the then Colônia Afonso Pena, municipality of São José dos Pinhais. The construction initiative was initiated by the United States Army and counted on the participation of the Brazilian Ministry of War. The objective was strategic, because, in the m... Afonso Pena International Airport (IATA: CWB, ICAO: SBCT) is a Brazilian airport located in São José dos Pinhais, in Greater Curitiba, 18 km from the center of the capital of Paraná.
The airport was opened in 1944, as a military aerodrome, in the then Colônia Afonso Pena, municipality of São José dos Pinhais. The construction initiative was initiated by the United States Army and counted on the participation of the Brazilian Ministry of War. The objective was strategic, because, in the middle of the Second World War and with the conflict extending for longer, the site would serve for Allied planes to lift up from this base to fight in the South Atlantic the presence of submarines and war vessels of the Axis.
Another detail for the choice of the location was the choice of the location, by American military engineers, due to the formation of thick fog at some times of the year, which would help in camouflage against any attack. What was militarily perfect at the time has now become a problem.
With the end of the war, in 1946, the airport started to be commercially explored, receiving strong benefits around it with the advent of the 1950 World Cup. In 1974 Infraero took over its administration.
In 1997, Infraero transferred regional flights from Bacacheri Airport to Afonso Pena, in order to provide more comfort to users.
Its name is a tribute to the politician from Minas Gerais Afonso Augusto Moreira Pena, president of the republic at the beginning of the 20th century, but it is not a direct tribute, since it derives from the name of the place where it was built.
