Rafael Núñez International Airport is an international airport serving the Caribbean port city of Cartagena, Colombia. It is the largest airport in the country's northern Caribbean region in terms of passenger movement. It is located between the Caribbean coast and the Ciénaga de la Virgen marsh, in the center of Crespo, a neighborhood in northern Cartagena. It is named after Cartagena native Rafael Núñez, the former Colombian president who wrote the verses to the National Anthem of Colombia. Airlines including Air Canada Rouge, Air Panama, Air Transat, American Airlines, Avianca, Copa Airlines, Delta Air Lines, EasyFly, JetBlue, LATAM Colombia, LATAM Perú, Spirit Airlines, VivaColombia, and Wingo have or had international flights from this airport to various cities in North, Central and South America. KLM has flights to Amsterdam, Netherlands, by way of Bogota (the airline does not own rights to transport passengers solely between Cartagena and Bogota). History The first aerial activity began in late 1919 when businessmen Nemesio de la Espriella of Cartagena and Guillermo Echavarria of Antioquía began negotiations to acquire a Farman F-40 aircraft made in France. The aircraft arrived by ship disassembled and packed in boxes. They soon began building a makeshift hangar at Bocagrande, which was then an area of mangroves and a few vacation houses. A few years later they built a stunning Caribbean hotel. This was the beginning of the "Colombian Air Navigation Company". The first flight took place on February 14, 1920, when pilot Jourdanet Jacques René Bazin flew the plane "Cartagena" around the city, carrying as passengers Guillermo Echavarria Martinez Martelo Tulita and the Queen of Carnival. Eight days later, a mail flight was made to the city of Barranquilla, marking the beginning of commercial aviation activity in the country. In 1930, the SCADTA built another airfield on the island of Manzanillo. By 1940, the company had become Avianca and continued operating from Manzanillo to various domestic destinations. It was in mid-1946 when TACA de Colombia established a subsidiary called Colombian Aerodromes Company (ECA), dedicated to the construction and maintenance of airfields, to provide technical maintenance for aircraft company property, and to compete with Avianca. Until the mid-fifties when airports were acquired by the State, Avianca never authorized the use of its airports by other airlines, and each business had to build its own facilities in the cities where it intended to operate. In December 1946, Crespo Air Field was inaugurated