Bolivia’s first official flight was a short one. According to Spanish Wikipedia, which draws on the Ministry of Defence’s historical summary of the air force, the American captain Donald Hudson flew a Curtiss 18 triplane for ten minutes near present-day El Alto on 17 April 1920. The government had already sent officers to Argentina and Chile to learn to fly in 1916, and in November 1921 Juan Mendoza y Nernuldes became the first Bolivian pilot.

On 12 October 1923 President Bautista Saavedra founded the Escuela Militar de Aviación at El Alto. The air force treats that day as its founding date, even though it did not become an independent service until 26 September 1957. Its first school aircraft were seven Morane-Saulnier MS.35 trainers. English Wikipedia’s airport article mentions a military aviation school as early as 1916, which does not match the 1923 date; the 1923 founding is the one the air force celebrates.

El Alto’s defining fact is its height. English Wikipedia gives an elevation of 4,061.5 metres; from its inauguration on 18 June 1965 until 1994 it was the highest airport in the world, and it is still described as the highest international airport. Thin air reduces engine power and lift, which is why the main runway, 10R/28L, is 4,000 metres long, with a 2,050-metre grass strip alongside that Spanish Wikipedia describes as an auxiliary emergency runway.

The airport was first named after John F. Kennedy, though the name was never used publicly; Law 1944 of 1999, under President Hugo Banzer, made it Aeropuerto Internacional El Alto. It is run today by the civil agency NAABOL, set up in March 2022.

The contrast with the rest of the air force’s map is stark. Cochabamba’s Jorge Wilstermann airport lies at 2,548 metres and Santa Cruz’s El Trompillo, where the first Zlín Z 242 L trainers were handed over in 2016, at 418 metres; the primary flying training group is in the lowlands at Villamontes. El Alto is the air force’s birthplace, but most of its flying is done far below it.

Spanish Wikipedia lists three military occupants: the I Brigada Aérea, the Grupo Aéreo Presidencial and the Base Aérea Bartolina Sisa. English Wikipedia lists El Alto as the seat of the First Air Brigade, one of six. The air force’s transport history is visible in the airport’s accident list: a TAM DC-3 (TAM-17) damaged beyond repair on 14 July 1970 and a TAM C-47 (TAM-22) that crashed after take-off on a cargo flight on 4 May 1971. TAM itself grew out of the C-47s that arrived in 1945. It has since been turned into a public enterprise under the Ministry of Defence and flies an Avro RJ70; Spanish Wikipedia dates its restart to 31 May 2024.

The base is also a ceremonial centre. The state news agency ABI reported that the 7 August 2026 parade for the 201st anniversary of the armed forces would be held at the air brigade in El Alto and opened to the public.

On 27 February 2026 the C-130H FAB-81, flown for the air force’s cargo company Transportes Aéreos Bolivianos (TAB) from Santa Cruz with currency for the Central Bank of Bolivia, ran off the runway on landing and into an avenue outside the airport, hitting several vehicles. Most of the victims were on the ground. Counts differ: Infodefensa reported 22 dead and 37 injured on 2 March; English Wikipedia gives at least 22 dead and 29 injured; ABI wrote on 16 April of more than 10 dead and at least 28 injured.

The air force convened an accident investigation board and recovered the cockpit voice recorder. On 16 April 2026 its commander, General Sergio Lora, gave a statement to prosecutors as a witness and said insurance had been activated and that he was complying with the law on compensation. No cause had been published by 1 October 2026.