Juazeiro do Norte Airport, or Orlando Bezerra de Menezes Airport, also known as Cariri Regional Airport, is located in the Cariri Metropolitan Region, in the interior of the state of Ceará, more precisely in the municipality of Juazeiro do Norte. A former member of the Infraero network, the airport serves the southern and central-south regions of Ceará, southeast of Piauí, northwest of Pernambuco and the hinterland of Paraíba.
The extinct companies VARIG and VASP operated there, as well as the former AVIANCA Brasil. It currently has the operations of only two airlines: GOL (with daily flights to São Paulo and Fortaleza) and AZUL (with daily flights to Recife, São Paulo and weekly to Campinas).
The airport is characterized as one of the most active in the Northeast, serving the most varied public throughout the year, due to the many potentialities of the Cariri Metropolitan Region, highlighting religious tourism, business, cultures, natural beauties, paleontological treasures. of Chapada do Araripe and higher education institutions, thus being a very important instrument for local economic development.
It was purchased by the Spanish airport administrator Aena Desarrollo Internacional on March 15, 2019. The company was the winner of the auction by the National Civil Aviation Agency (Anac) to take over the administration, expansion and operation of the airport. The purchase was worth R$ 1.9 billion (including the Northeast block).