Mariscal Sucre International Airport

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Mariscal Sucre International Airport
Aeropuerto Internacional Mariscal Sucre
IATA: UIO - ICAO: SEQU
Summary
Airport type Public
Operator Quiport
Serves Quito
Elevation AMSL 9,214 ft (2,808 m)
Coordinates 00°08′28″S, 78°29′19″W
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
17/35 10,236 3,120 Paved

Mariscal Sucre International Airport (IATA: UIO, ICAO: SEQU) is an airport in Quito, Ecuador, named after Antonio José de Sucre, a hero of Ecuadorian and Latin American independence. It began to operate in 1960, and currently handles about 2.5 million passengers and 125,000 metric tons of freight per year. The airport, one of the highest of the world (at 2800 m AMSL) is located in the northern part of the city, in the Chaupicruz parish, within 5 minutes of Quito's financial center; the terminals are located at the intersection of Amazonas and La Prensa avenues.

Due to the location of the current airport (in the middle of a city surrounded by mountains), the possibilities for expanding it are very slim, and its associated risks of operation are higher; six serious accidents and several incidents took place in recent years.[1][2] To address these issues, a new airport is being built in the Tababela parish, about 18 km to the east of the city, which is slated to begin operations by 2010.

The airport charges a departure tax of US $31.60.

Contents

[edit] Facilities

The existing airport consists of one terminal split into a national and international area. It is equipped with five swing gates capable of directing arriving passengers to either Immigration or to baggage claim. In addition, there are numerous ground slots where passengers walk to the aircraft from the terminal.

[edit] Future Airport

As the existing airport is slated to be replaced in 2010, the new facility will be comprised of 12 swing gates built into an international terminal and six gates in a national terminal. It will also be served by new expressway and aircraft will use two new parallel runways. The new airport's security is questionable due to the existence of a valley at the end of the planned runway. The risk that an aircraft will slide into the valley poses several safety concerns.

Concerns with the new airport have been raised, since there is a cliff at the end of the runways, in the event of an aircraft sliding, results would be catastrophic. Although the new airport is not as high in altitude as the current airport, it is in a valley that is still considerably high above sea level. Studies have been mounted in which a video is taken for 24 hours in the planned location of the site for many days, and the results conclude that there is low clouds over the area as well, raising even more safety concerns that could jeopordize that airports approval by aggencies such as the FAA, in the event that the FAA does not approve the airport, no U.S. airlines would be able to fly here, and other airlines would likely follow.

[edit] Airport Geography

The airport is in the middle of the colonial city of Quito. In certain times of the year landing at the airport can be very dangerous, due to winds and poor visibility that makes for less than ideal conditions at best. Landing from the north is generally much more dangerous than landing from the south, especially with bigger aircraft such as Boeing 767, Airbus A340, and MD-11.

[edit] Airlines

[edit] References

  1. ^ Report on the conditions of the current airport and the benefits of a new airport (Inter-American Development Bank)
  2. ^ Cubana Flight 389, the most serious accident in recent years (Aviation Safety Network)

[edit] External links

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