Augusto Cesar Sandino International Airport, Nicaragua
N 12° 08.481 W 086° 10.127
16P E 590441 N 1342321
The international airport in Managua, Nicaragua is named for Augusto Cesar Sandino, (1893-1934) former nationalist and revolutionary general of Nicaragua.
Waymark Code: WM8418
Location: Nicaragua
Date Posted: 01/23/2010
Views: 14
The Person:
A farmer and a mining engineer, Sandino joined the liberal revolution against the conservative government headed by Adolfo Díaz and Emiliano Chamorro. He protested against the new U.S. intervention in Nicaragua in 1926 and rejected the Stimson-Moncada agreement for the elections of 1927. Due to this differing opinion, Sandino broke from the liberal leader, José María Moncada, and during 1927-1933, he conducted vigorous guerrilla campaigns against the U.S. Marines. He was ever captured and after the withdrawal of the marines, he headed a cooperative farming scheme. In 1934 he was invited to meet with Gen. Anastasio Somoza, and during that meeting, he was seized and executed. It is from Augusto César Sandino that the Nicaraguan revolutionary group, the "Sandinistas", derived their name.
The Airport:
Augusto Cesar Sandino International Airport, Nicaragua (IATA: MGA, ICAO: MNMG) is the main airport in Managua, Nicaragua.
The runway at this airport is 8,015 feet long, and it is located at an elevation of 194 feet. The Airport serves more than a million passengers each year, making Augusto C. Sandino International Airport the fifth busiest airport by passenger traffic in Central America.
Originally opened on July 4, 1968, the airport was designed to be used Boeing 707 aircraft. The airport was expanded in the early 1970s with modern electronics, baggage handling conveyors. Later, the Sandinistas took power, maintenance of the airport lagged, and it began to deteriorate, until 1996 when it was again expanded and remodeled, the most notable improvement being the addition of two new boarding bridges.