El Alto International Airport
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| El Alto International Airport | |||
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| IATA: LPB – ICAO: SLLP | |||
| Summary | |||
| Airport type | Public | ||
| Operator | abertis airports (Abertis) | ||
| Location | La Paz | ||
| Elevation AMSL | 13,325 ft / 4,061 m | ||
| Coordinates | 16°30′48″S 68°11′32″W / 16.51333°S 68.19222°WCoordinates: 16°30′48″S 68°11′32″W / 16.51333°S 68.19222°W | ||
| Runways | |||
| Direction | Length | Surface | |
| ft | m | ||
| 10/28 | 13,123 | 4,000 | Concrete |
| 10L/28R | 6,725 | 2,050 | Grass |
El Alto International Airport (IATA: LPB, ICAO: SLLP) is an international airport located in El Alto, near the city of La Paz, Bolivia; it serves national and international air traffic. At an altitude of 4,061 metres (13,323 ft), it is one of the highest international airports in the world. The facility served as a focus city for the former Lloyd Aereo Boliviano, Bolivia's national air carrier, and is a hub for Aerosur, currently the country's largest private airline. El Alto has served as La Paz's airport since the first half of the 20th century, but was modernized in the late 1960s, when its runway was lengthened and a new passenger terminal with modern facilities was built. The new airport, called John F. Kennedy but still referred to as El Alto (as it has been known for several decades), was inaugurated in 1969. It has since been overtaken by Santa Cruz de la Sierra's more modern Viru Viru International Airport as Bolivia's most important.
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[edit] Operators
On March 1, 1997, the Government of Bolivia entered into a 25 year contract with Airport Group International to operate the three largest airports in Bolivia – El Alto Airport in La Paz, Jorge Wilstermann Airport in Cochabamba and Viru Viru International Airport in Santa Cruz. Servicios de Aeropuertos Bolivianos Sociedad Anonima (SABSA) was created to operate the concession. In 1999 Airport Group International was purchased by TBI plc and, in 2004, Spain's Abertis/AENA purchased TBI.
[edit] Incidents
On March 8, 2006, a Learjet aircraft belonging to Argentina's military crashed just minutes after taking off from El Alto on its way to Viru Viru International Airport, killing all six people on board.
[edit] Airlines and destinations
| Airlines | Destinations |
|---|---|
| Aerocon | Trinidad, Cochabamba, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Cobija |
| Aerosur | Cobija, Cochabamba, Cusco, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Sucre, Tarija |
| Amaszonas | Cobija, Rurrenabaque, Trinidad |
| American Airlines | Miami |
| Boliviana de Aviacion | Cochabamba, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Tarija |
| LAN Airlines | Iquique, Santiago de Chile |
| LAN Perú | Lima |
| Sky Airline | Antofagasta, Arica, Santiago de Chile |
| TACA Peru | Lima |
| TAM - Transporte Aéreo Militar | Cobija, Cochabamba, Riberalta, Rurrenabaque, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Tarija |
[edit] See also
- Qamdo Bangda Airport, the highest commercial airport in the world, at 4,334 m (14,219 ft)
- Extreme points of the World
[edit] External links
- Airport information for SLLP at World Aero Data. Data current as of October 2006.
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