runway, taxiways, parking apron, and a main terminal building for domestic and international flights. The terminal was equipped with airline service counters, restaurants, shops, a small hotel and even a nondenominational prayer chapel for nervous passengers. Although some critics initially claimed it was unnecessarily large and expensive for the city's needs at the time, air operations and passenger numbers quickly grew, justifying the size and cost of the project. The electronic, communications and safety equipment at the airport was recognized when it was designated as the alternate for Bogotá's El Dorado Int'l. Airport. In June 1989 local authorities renamed the airport after Alfonso Bonilla Aragón, a local civic leader and journalist who played a prominent role in the approval and construction of the airport. This decision proved highly unpopular with the people of Cali, and there were serious efforts made to reverse the decision. Even the Business Guilds and the Cali Chamber of Commerce formally requested that the government intercede and force the Civil Aeronautics Agency to change the name back to "Palmaseca". Reform and Privatisation At the beginning of 1982, Álvaro Uribe Vélez, Director of Civil Aeronautics (then President of Colombia), made the decision to decentralize the management of two important international airports: Palmaseca in Cali and Olaya Herrera in Medellín. Palmaseca would be administered by a mixed economy company, proposed by the Permanent Business Committee of Valle del Cauca and the Cali Chamber of Commerce. The entity that would have to abide by the rules of public establishments would be 90% economically backed by state capital and 10% by private capital. The shareholders included Empresas Públicas de Cali, Palmira, Cortuvalle, C.V.C and Corporación Financiera del Transporte. This decentralization was never carried out and only years later the privatization process began In the mid-1980s, part of the international terminal satellite collapsed, causing many criticisms of the design and construction firms of the building. In 1986 Civil Aeronautics had to assume the reconstruction of the international terminal satellite, together with the reinforcement in the rest of the structure. The md 1980's saw the construction of the cargo terminal, the general aviation area and a new airport fire station. In mid-1989 the main runway was repaved, which had deteriorated along 700 meters of the 3000 total meters in length. The general aviation area was also built, which unfortunately soon became a clandestine center for drug trafficking operations. For this reason the