Cuenca Airport signs agreement to manage authorization of international flights

The Municipality of Cuenca and the Ministry of the Interior signed an agreement this Monday, November 13, 2023, for the Mariscal Lamar airport to begin the process to obtain authorization to operate internationally.

Cuenca Airport signs agreement to manage authorization of international flights

With these agreements, the Cuenca Airport Corporation will be able to implement the areas of migration, canine unit and anti-drug control in the air terminal, which are part of the requirements to achieve internationalization .

This agreement will allow the Airport Corporation to begin the first phase of the process to have international flights, the institution detailed in its X account.

The agreement signed with the Ministry of the Interior will allow immigration controls to be carried out directly in the capital of Azuaya, which does not currently occur.

The Ministry of the Interior also undertakes to assign a Canine Unit, with dogs specialized in anti-drug control , to carry out inspections at the air terminal, said Minister Juan Zapata.

The Cuenca Airport Corporation has been planning for years for the Mariscal Lamar airport to have international flights , but there are several reasons that have prevented it.

One of the most important obstacles is the size of the runway , which is barely 1,900 meters long. Large airports have one or more runways with a length of up to three kilometers.

Furthermore, the space on the sides of the track is only 50 and 80 meters. Ecuadorian regulations say that airfields must have 140 meters of space on the sides of the runway.

However, there is interest from several airlines in carrying out international flights, mainly for connections with Peru.