Tocumen International Airport
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| Tocumen International Airport Aeropuerto Internacional de Tocumen |
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| IATA: PTY - ICAO: MPTO | |||
| Summary | |||
| Airport type | Public | ||
| Operator | Tocumen, S.A. | ||
| Serves | Panama City | ||
| Elevation AMSL | 135 ft (41 m) | ||
| Coordinates | |||
| Runways | |||
| Direction | Length | Surface | |
| ft | m | ||
| 03L/21R | 8,800 | 2,682 | Concrete |
| 03R/21L | 10,006 | 3,050 | Concrete |
Tocumen International Airport (IATA: PTY, ICAO: MPTO) is an airport located 15 miles (24 km) from Panama City, Panama. It's the busiest airport in Panama and it has flights to almost every city in Latin America. In 2006 it underwent recently had a major expansion and renovation program in order to modernize and improve its facilities.
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[edit] History
The first Tocumen International Airport was inaugurated on June 1, 1947, by then president Enrique A. Jiménez, and it started operations without construction being finished. The main administration and terminal building was inaugurated 7 years later.
The former airport, used today as a cargo terminal, was built in an area of 7.2 square kilometres and is 126 ft (38 m) above sea level.
Given the history of Panama as a transit country because of its geographical location, that terminal was too small for the demand of air operations. This led to plans to an expansion of this terminal, which were never carried out. Instead a new terminal was planned. Construction began in 1971. The Tocumen River was deverted from its original course for the construction of the new terminal.
The new terminal, also named Tocumen International Airport, was inaugurated on August 15, 1978. The inaugural flight was on September 5 that same year.
The name of the airport was briefly changed during the 1980s to Omar Torrijos International Airport after the death of Panama's leader Omar Torrijos, but the name reverted back to Tocumen International Airport following the overthrow of the Manuel Noriega government as a result of the 1989 U.S. invasion.
The Tocumen International Airport is among the few in the region with two runways for landing, since the former terminal's runway is used permanently for cargo planes and private flights or it can be used as a backup for the main runway in moments of high demand.
The main runway of Tocumen is 3050 meters long and is used primarily by commercial airlines.
Until May 31, 2003 the Airport's administration was under the Civilian Areonautics Direction (Today the Civilian Aeronautic Authority). Since June 1, 2003 a new administrative organization created by law No. 23 of January 29, 2003 allowed the creation of a company, named "Aeropuerto Internacional de Tocumen, S.A." (Tocumen International Airport, Inc.) that runs today the Airport. This law was part of a package that reorganized all of the aeronautics sector in Panama.
Tocumen is a large facility and center of flights heading to and from the Caribbean, South America, North America and all of Central America. Also, one European city (Madrid) is served. Tocumen is the hub of Panama's international airline, Copa Airlines.
In 2006 it is expected that there will be more than 3 million passengers travelling through Panama's Tocumen International Aiport.
[edit] Airlines and destinations
Airlines serving Tocumen include:
- AeroRepublica (Bogota, Cartagena, Medellin)
- Air Transat (Montreal, Toronto-Pearson) [all seasonal]
- Aires (Barranquilla, Cartagena, Pereira)
- American Airlines (Miami)
- Avianca (Bogotá)
- Continental Airlines (Houston-Intercontinental, Newark)
- Copa Airlines (Barranquilla, Bogotá, Buenos Aires-Ezeiza, Cali, Cancún, Caracas, Cartagena, Guatemala City, Guayaquil, Havana, Kingston, Lima, Los Angeles, Managua, Manaus, Maracaibo, Medellín, Mexico City, Miami, Montevideo , New York-JFK, Orlando, Port-au-Prince, Port of Spain, Quito, Rio de Janeiro-Galeão, San Andrés, San José (CR), San Juan, San Pedro Sula, San Salvador, Santiago de Chile, Santiago de los Caballeros, Santo Domingo, São Paulo-Guarulhos, Tegucigalpa)
- Cubana de Aviación (Havana)
- Delta Air Lines (Atlanta)
- Iberia (Madrid)
- Lloyd Aereo Boliviano (Cancún, Mexico City, Santa Cruz de la Sierra)
- Skyservice (Quebec City [seasonal])
- Sunwing Airlines (Montreal, Quebec City, Toronto-Pearson) [all seasonal]
- TACA (San José (CR), San Salvador)
[edit] Expansion
There are 3 projects currently for the expansion and modernization of the Airport:
[edit] Passenger terminal expansion
The main Passenger Terminal is being expanded 20,830 square meters and will cost approximately US$ 21 million. It will allow the creation of new boarding spots to allow more flights to and from Panama, and also the growth of the commercial areas and internal circulation areas.
The administration has already acquired 22 new boarding bridges that will replace the current 14. They will also include 6 remote positions, that will allow Tocumen Airport to have 28 boarding spots. The new installations are scheduled to be inaugurated in 2006.
[edit] Equipment
Another modernization project includes new equipment to give service and support to the areas of the Airport.
This includes the new boarding bridges as mentioned before and also new elevators, new luggage administration systems, a new flight information system and the replacement of the air conditioners.
[edit] Cargo terminal renovation
The remodeling of the main building of the old Tocumen International Airport, built in 1947, used today as a cargo terminal, is another project for the modernization of the Airport.
This includes the redesign of the central building and the construction of new buildings for the cargo companies, among other improvements.
