However, Panagra began looking for a suitable place for an airport in order to link South America with Panama through Cali, as well as its domestic flights operated by Avianca. To this end they acquired land in the municipality of Candelaria, 18 miles from the center of Cali. On April 17, 1947 the modern facilities at "Calipuerto" were inaugurated. The airport passed to the Colombian state in the 1950s and was subsequently taken over by the Civil Aeronautics Department in 1968.