Luis Alberto Lehr Airport Guide

Luís Alberto Lehr Airport serves Santa Rosa, a city in the northwest of Rio Grande do Sul near the Argentine border. The airfield sits in a rural area beside the ERS-307 highway, about 6 to 7.5 km from the city centre. Its ICAO code is SSZR, and it stands at roughly 300 m above sea level.

The airport was commissioned on 8 December 1957. Airline service to Santa Rosa goes back further. In the late 1930s VARIG flew Junkers aircraft between Santa Rosa and Porto Alegre, and in the 1950s VARIG and SAVAG used the then unpaved runway. Flights lasted until the mid-1960s, after which regional air travel ran through Santo Ângelo.

Today the single asphalt runway, 07/25, is 1,200 m long and 30 m wide. It is open day and night under visual approach rules. No scheduled passenger flights operate at present.

The airport is being rebuilt. The city government is leading a project of about R$ 45 million, funded largely by parliamentary amendments. It covers a longer, new runway designed for aircraft of up to 150 passengers, with a terminal of about 1,450 m² to replace the current 132 m² building. Completion and certification are planned for the end of 2026, with direct flights to Porto Alegre and São Paulo as the stated goal.