La Aurora International Airport

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 190.148.174.208 (talk) at 03:50, 7 September 2008. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

La Aurora International Airport

Aeropuerto Internacional La Aurora
File:Aeropuerto La Aurora GUA.jpg
Airport's exterior.
Summary
Airport typeJoint
OwnerMinisterio de Comunicaciones, Infraestructura y Vivienda
OperatorDirección General de Aeronautica Civil
ServesGuatemala City
LocationGuatemala City, Guatemala
Elevation AMSL1,509 m / 4,952 ft
Coordinates14°34′59″N 90°31′38″W / 14.58306°N 90.52722°W / 14.58306; -90.52722
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
01/19 3,000 9,800 Asphalt
Currently under renovations

La Aurora International Airport (IATA: GUA, ICAO: MGGT) serves Guatemala City, Guatemala and is located 6km south of Guatemala City's center. It is administered by the Direccion General de Aeronautica Civil.

La Aurora International Airport is going through massive modernization and expansion works. The airport will be able to accept a greater number of flights and larger aircraft. It will provide high standard installations to the traveller. The old terminal has been renovated in accordance with its original design. It has been partly demolished and is now being expanded by a new glass-designed concourse in the north, able to attend up to twenty-two aircraft. The greater part of the project has been completed in December 2007, and all airlines currently operate from the newly built northern concourse. The removal of the former gates 1-7 made room for the central concourse for widebody aircraft (currently under construction).

On June 2007 the airport was certified as Category I by the FAA.[1]

Infrastructure and News

La Aurora is being renovated, along with other airports in Guatemala, such as Mundo Maya International Airport, Quetzaltenango Airport, Puerto Barrios Airport, and San José Airport.

Seven new gates were opened in July 2007 equipped with jetway bridges and modern installations, also a new parking garage was opened which is capable of handling 500 vehicles. The new counters were also finished. Eleven more gates were opened in December 2007. The airport will have two concourses: the northern concourse with 12 gates and the central concourse used for larger aircraft with four gates or six gates for small planes.

Grupo Taca is also creating a hub at La Aurora International Airport and will begin flying to cities in South America like: Bogota, Caracas, Quito, Panama. It already started flying to Lima. [2] Within Central and North America they will expand their daily flights as well. In November TACA will start flying to Managua, Nicaragua with their new addition to their fleet, the Embraer 190.

The runway of the airport currently is of 3,000 meters long. Previously, there have been intends to expand it (make it longer) but it has been inpossible since it is surrounded by constructions in the northern side and there is a terrain drop in the southern side. The fact that the runway is at an altitude of 1,500 meters above sea level makes it very dangerous, and almost inpossible for a widebody aircaft to take off on a very long haul route like routes to Europe or Asia. Therefore, the aircraft has to make a short scale during the first part of the flight. A clear example would be Iberia's flight to Madrid-Barajas making the flight Madrid-Guatemala-Panama-Madrid.

During the renovations, there are no telephone lines in place anywhere in the airport, either public telephones or landlines in the various offices. All telephone communication from the airport must be conducted from cellular phones (as of June 2008).

Airlines and destinations

Terminal 1 (North Terminal)

Terminal 2 (Central Terminal)

Terminal 2 is a new expansion to the airport that is currently under construction. Once finished Iberia Airlines will operate from this terminal.

Private Hangars

New airlines and new routes

  • Copa Airlines announced two more routes to Panama for 2008, increasing their flights from 35 to 49 weekly flights. Copa is also waiting for the approval to open a Presidents Club in the airport.
  • Iberia Airlines announced a new flight to Madrid beginning on October 3, 2008, the flights will turn to 5 weekly (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday)
  • Grupo Taca announced a new route to Managua beginning November 2008, the routes will be with a daily flight using the Embraer 190 Taca's new jet in service.
  • Delta Airlines will resume their Services to Los Angeles beginning December 6, 2008.
  • United Airlines stopped flying to Los Angeles because of fuel crisis. The airline will reusume the route in 2012.

Cargo airlines

References

  1. ^ Transportes Aereos Guatemaltecos
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=La_Aurora_International_Airport&oldid=236789403"