Cali airport guide: the terminal is in Palmira, the state took it back in 2025, and your taxi fare is set by two governments

Three things about Alfonso Bonilla Aragón are true, unusual, and missing from almost every guide to it. It is not in Cali — Aerocivil's own page says it serves the city desde el municipio de Palmira. Since 1 September 2025 it has been run directly by the national government instead of a private concession, after a 25-year contract ended. And because it sits in a different municipality, the legal taxi fare to reach it is split between two transit authorities, which means there is no single published number you can check a quote against. This page is what we tell our own passengers.

Written by the ground transport company that works this terminal. Everything about the airport's operation comes from Aeronáutica Civil and the Ministerio de Transporte directly; the Cali taxi tariff reaches us through regional press because the Alcaldía's own site blocked us, and we say so on the line.

The airport is not in Cali

Every listing calls it Cali airport. The code is CLO, the city it serves is Cali, and the taxi rank is full of Cali taxis. But the runway, the terminal and the land under both are in Palmira, a separate municipality in Valle del Cauca.

Aeronáutica Civil's own page for the airport puts it plainly: it presta sus servicios a Cali desde el municipio de Palmira.

That is not trivia. In Colombia, taxi tariffs are set municipally — each city issues its own decree each year — so a journey that crosses a municipal boundary crosses a pricing boundary too. Bogotá, Medellín and Cartagena all publish a single number for their airport run. Cali cannot, because half the journey is not Cali's to price.

Who runs this airport now

This is the part no travel guide has caught up with, and it changed recently.

For 25 years the airport was run by Aerocali S.A. under a concession. That contract ended, and on 1 September 2025 the Aeronáutica Civil de Colombia assumed direct public operation of the terminal. The Ministerio de Transporte announced it nationally.

What the government committed to, in its own account:

• 122 mission-critical staff, among them 58 controladores aéreos y 45 bomberos aeronáuticos.
• Continuity for the more than 6 million passengers a year who use the terminal.
• An "Operación Espejo" strategy, run from an advanced command post, to carry the handover without interrupting service.
• Investment of up to $90.000 millones in infrastructure, technology, electromechanical systems, energy, platforms, baggage belts, the control tower and environmental services.

The transport minister, Mafe Rojas, framed the commitment as running the airport con inversión, talento humano y transparencia.

Press reporting adds detail the government announcement did not carry, and we mark it as press: the spending is structured as roughly $44.908 millones across the first six to eight months rising to the $90.000 millones figure over about eleven, and more than 160 commercial and rental contracts transferred across at handover so that shops, counters and car rental desks kept operating.

This is temporary by design. The Ministerio de Transporte and the Agencia Nacional de Infraestructura are structuring a new concession to be awarded in the coming years. Nobody has published a date.

The taxi fare you cannot check

Cali sets its taxi tariff by municipal decree — the current one is Decreto 4112.010.20.1084 de 2025. Its contents reach us through regional press, El País and El Tiempo, because the Alcaldía's own site would not serve us the document, and we would rather say that than imply we read it.

• The $7.100 minimum holds until the meter reaches 48 units. After that each further unit adds $150 in a basic taxi.
• Night, Sunday and holiday supplement: $1.800, chargeable only durante el período comprendido entre las 19:00 horas y las 06:00 horas.

And then the airport rule. As reported, the fare to Alfonso Bonilla Aragón is the Cali taximeter reading from your origin to the Río Cauca bridge, plus el valor que para el trayecto fije la Autoridad de Tránsito y Transporte del Municipio de Palmira for the stretch beyond it.

Two municipalities, one journey, no single published total. Compare that with what the other cities publish:

The practical consequence is simple and worth acting on: settle the price before the car moves. In Medellín you can argue about a quote afterwards because there is a number to argue with. Here there is not.

Arriving, and the hours that are thin

The terminal itself is straightforward. What catches people is timing.

Cali is a hub for early departures and late arrivals, and the airport sits outside the city across a municipal line. That combination produces a specific problem: at four in the morning, or at one at night, the supply of anyone willing to make a cross-municipal run is thin, and it is thin precisely when missing the trip costs the most.

What we would tell you regardless of whether you booked with us:

• Pre-dawn departures are worth arranging in advance. Not because the road is difficult — it is not — but because availability at that hour is not something to discover at 4 a.m.
• An app driver happy inside Cali may not be happy going into Palmira. Crossing the line means a fare out and, often, an empty run back.
• Afternoon rain and heat both empty the available-car pool at exactly the moment everybody wants one.
• If you are connecting onward the same day, build in more margin than the distance suggests. The variable is not the road.

Where people go from here

A good number of arrivals at CLO are not staying in Cali. These are the drives we run out of this terminal and the city, each with its own page:

• Cali to Popayán — south into Cauca, and the advisory below applies to the road.
• Cali to Buenaventura — west to the Pacific, and the same.
• Cali to the Coffee Region — north, and the easiest of the three.

None of these is an app trip. They are three-hour-plus drives where the car has to wait and the driver has to know the road.

On the app-versus-taxi question in this city specifically, including the fare split above in more detail, see Uber in Cali. For the national legal position — what Colombia's courts decided, and what they never reached — see Is Uber legal in Colombia?

The advisory, printed word for word

We will not soften this, and we will not editorialise it either.

The United States travel advisory of 31 March 2026 lists as Do Not Travel: Arauca, Cauca excluding Popayán, Valle del Cauca excluding Cali, and Norte de Santander.

Read the exceptions, because they carry the meaning:

• Cali itself is excepted from the Valle del Cauca listing. So is the airport's function of serving it.
• Palmira is in Valle del Cauca and is not named as an exception. We state that because it is what the advisory says, not because we are telling you the airport is dangerous — six million passengers a year use it without incident.
• Popayán is excepted from the Cauca listing, but the road from Cali to it runs through Cauca, which is not.
• Buenaventura is in Valle del Cauca and is not excepted.

That is a United States government assessment, not ours, and reasonable people weigh it differently. We publish it because you should make the decision with the actual text in front of you, and because a transfer company that quietly leaves it out is not one to trust with the rest of the page.

What we tell our own passengers

• Agree the price before the car moves. This is the one city where there is no published total to check against afterwards.
• Know the supplement window. $1.800 applies in a taxi between 19:00 and 06:00, and on Sundays and holidays. Knowing that stops a legitimate charge feeling like a scam.
• Check the plate before the name. The plate is on the car and cannot be edited to match your screen.
• Wait inside and walk out when the car arrives. Not a Cali-specific rule, but the one that most separates visitors who have problems from visitors who do not.
• Arrange pre-dawn and post-midnight runs in advance. Availability, not safety, is the constraint.
• Bring something warm for a night departure. The valley is warm; a terminal at five in the morning with air conditioning is not.

Common questions

Is Cali airport in Cali?

No. Alfonso Bonilla Aragón is in the municipality of Palmira. Aeronáutica Civil's own page for the airport says it serves Cali desde el municipio de Palmira. That is why the taxi fare is split between two authorities.

Who runs Cali airport?

The Aeronáutica Civil de Colombia, directly, since 1 September 2025, when Aerocali S.A.'s 25-year concession ended. A new concession is being structured by the Ministerio de Transporte and the Agencia Nacional de Infraestructura, with no announced date.

How much is a taxi from Cali to the airport?

There is no single published figure, and that is not us avoiding the question. The legal fare is the Cali taximeter from your origin to the Río Cauca bridge, plus whatever Palmira's transit authority sets for the stretch from the bridge to the terminal. Agree a number before you set off.

What is the minimum taxi fare in Cali?

$7.100 in a basic taxi and $9.100 in a luxury one under Decreto 4112.010.20.1084 de 2025, holding until the meter reaches 48 units, after which each unit adds $150 in a basic taxi.

How busy is the airport?

More than 6 million passengers a year, per the Ministerio de Transporte. It is staffed by 122 mission-critical personnel including 58 air traffic controllers and 45 aeronautical firefighters.

Did the handover to the government change anything for passengers?

Not in practice. Over 160 commercial and rental contracts transferred at handover so shops and counters kept trading, and the government ran an Operación Espejo strategy specifically to avoid interruption. You may see works in progress; that is the investment programme, not a problem.

Can I get an Uber at Cali airport?

People do. It is a cross-municipal run, which makes drivers less willing late at night, and rideshare pickup at Colombian airports behaves differently at every terminal. The full picture is on our Uber in Cali page.

Is it safe to travel on from Cali by road?

It depends entirely on where. The United States advisory of 31 March 2026 lists Cauca excluding Popayán and Valle del Cauca excluding Cali as Do Not Travel. Cali is excepted; the roads to Popayán and Buenaventura are not. Read the advisory, then read our route pages, then decide.

Should I book a transfer or take a taxi?

For a mid-afternoon arrival with one bag and a hotel in the city, a taxi is fine and we will say so. For a pre-dawn departure, a late-night arrival, a family with luggage, or anyone continuing straight out of the region, book it. The constraint here is availability at unsociable hours, and it is the one thing you cannot fix from the kerb.