José Joaquín de Olmedo International Airport
Encyclopedia
José Joaquín de Olmedo International Airport is an airport
Airport
An airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps take off and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport...

 serving Guayaquil
Guayaquil
Guayaquil , officially Santiago de Guayaquil , is the largest and the most populous city in Ecuador,with about 2.3 million inhabitants in the city and nearly 3.1 million in the metropolitan area, as well as that nation's main port...

, a city in the province
Provinces of Ecuador
Ecuador is divided into 24 provinces . The provinces of Ecuador and their capitals are:1 Population as per the census carried out on 2001-11-25In addition, there are three areas within Ecuador that are non-delimited...

 of Guayas
Guayas Province
Guayas is a coastal province in Ecuador. It is bordered to the west by Manabí, Santa Elena, and the Pacific Ocean ; to the east by Los Ríos, Bolívar, Chimborazo, Cañar, and Azuay; to the north by Los Ríos and Bolívar; and to the south by El Oro and the Pacific Ocean.With a population of over 3...

 in Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...

. The airport was named after José Joaquín de Olmedo
José Joaquín de Olmedo
José Joaquín de Olmedo y Maruri Patriot and poet, son of the Spanish Captain Don Miguel de Olmedo y Troyano and the Guayaquilean Ana Francisca de Maruri y Salavarría....

, a notable Ecuadorian poet, first mayor of the city of Guayaquil and former president of Ecuador. It was formerly known as Simón Bolívar International Airport. The airport is located 5 km north of Guayaquil's centre, on the Avenida de las Américas, and has a runway with a length of 2,790 metres (9,154 ft), an elevation
Elevation
The elevation of a geographic location is its height above a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface ....

 of 5 m (16 ft), and can serve Boeing 747
Boeing 747
The Boeing 747 is a wide-body commercial airliner and cargo transport, often referred to by its original nickname, Jumbo Jet, or Queen of the Skies. It is among the world's most recognizable aircraft, and was the first wide-body ever produced...

s, MD-11s and A340-600s.

History

The airport, which has the newest terminal in Ecuador, was renamed after José Joaquín de Olmedo in 2006, in preparation for the inauguration of the new 50,000 sq. meter national and international terminal on 27 July 2006. Although there was an inaugural flight on 28 July 2006, most airlines did not operate completely from the new terminal until 13 August 2006. After that date, the old terminal was closed and it was later turned into a convention center.

The construction of the new terminal and expansion of the runway was finally decided in 2003-2004, years after making the decision that the current infrastructure was not sufficient to cover the city's needs, but that it was not yet commercially viable to build an entirely new airport in the Daular area.

The original project in 2003-2004 contemplated the construction of a 28,000 sq. meter international terminal and the continuing operation of the old terminal, which would be left to handle only domestic flights. However, it was later decided that the new terminal would handle both national and international traffic (hence the larger, 50,000 sq. meter building), and that the older terminal would be closed.

The airport is planned to serve the city of Guayaquil for 10 to 15 years starting in 2006. After this, it is expected to reach a capacity of 5 million passengers a year, and when this happens a new airport will be built in the Daular area, some 20 kilometers outside the city, near the highway that connects Guayaquil to Salinas and other coastal towns.

José Joaquín de Olmedo International Airport was named "Best Airport in Latin America 2008" by BusinessWeek Magazine.

Facilities

The airport resides at an elevation
Elevation
The elevation of a geographic location is its height above a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface ....

 of 19 feet (6 m) above mean sea level and it has one runway
Runway
According to ICAO a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and take-off of aircraft." Runways may be a man-made surface or a natural surface .- Orientation and dimensions :Runways are named by a number between 01 and 36, which is generally one tenth...

 designated 03/21 with an asphalt
Asphalt
Asphalt or , also known as bitumen, is a sticky, black and highly viscous liquid or semi-solid that is present in most crude petroleums and in some natural deposits, it is a substance classed as a pitch...

 surface measuring 9154 by 151 ft (2,790.1 by 46 ).

Terminals, airlines and destinations


External links

Autoridad Aeroportuaria de Guayaquil
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