Jump to content

Tocumen International Airport

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by BranoDD (talk | contribs) at 13:17, 27 May 2012 (Infobox). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Tocumen International Airport

Aeropuerto Internacional de Tocumen
Summary
Airport typePublic
OperatorTocumen S.A.
ServesPanama City
LocationTocumen, Panama
Hub forCopa Airlines
Elevation AMSL41 m / 135 ft
WebsiteTocumenPanama.aero
Map
MPTO is located in Panama
MPTO
MPTO
Location in Panama
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
03R/21L 3,050 10,007 Concrete
03L/21R 2,682 8,799 Asphalt
Statistics (2010)
Passengers5,042,410
Source: DAFIF[1]

Tocumen International Airport (Spanish: Aeropuerto Internacional de Tocumen) (IATA: PTY, ICAO: MPTO) is an international airport located 24 km (15 miles) from Panama City, Panama. In 2006, it underwent a major expansion and renovation program in order to modernize and improve its facilities. It is currently the only airport in Central America with two runways for use and is also the largest and busiest airport in the country and Central America by passenger traffic.

History

During World War II, Panamanian airports were leased exclusively by the U.S. military. The nearest airport to Tocumen was the Paitilla Point Airfield. Several airports were built to protect the Panama Canal from foreign aggression. The 37th Pursuit Group at Albrook Field replaced the P-40 Warhawks of the 28th Pursuit Squadron at the Paitilla Point airbase from 9 December 1941 though 26 March 1942 in the immediate aftermath of the Pearl Harbor attack.

The first Tocumen International Airport was inaugurated on June 1, 1947 by President Enrique A. Jiménez, and airport operations began before the construction works were completed.

The administrative building/passenger terminal was inaugurated seven years later, during the administration of Colonel Jose Antonio Remon Cantera. The old airport, which currently is being used as a cargo terminal, was built on an area of 720 ha (1,800 acres) and was 126 ft (38 m) above sea level. As time passed, and due to Panama's role as a country of transit, that terminal became too small to attend to the growing demand for air operations. This compelled the aeronautical authorities at the time to consider expanding the airport. Work on the new installations began in 1971.

In order to build the structure that currently houses the current passenger terminal, a lot of land had to be moved and the bed of the Tocumen river had to be diverted from its original site. The current passenger terminal was inaugurated on August 15, 1978 and operations began on September 5 of the same year. The Tocumen International Airport is one of the few airports in the region that has two landing runways able to serve the largest commercial aircraft operating today.

The name of the airport was changed in 1981 by the military government for Omar Torrijos International Airport, in honor to the Panamanian leader who died in July 31, 1981, at the age of 52 in a plane crash in Cerro Marta, Coclesito in very bad conditions. After nine years, the original name was reestablished after the fall of the dictatorship of Panama by the U.S. invasion of 1989.

File:Tocumen lower.JPG
Tocumen International Airport arrivals hall.

The runway of the old airport (03L/21R) is mainly used for cargo and private flights, but also as a supplement to the runway during peak traffic periods. The main runway (03R/21L) is 3,050 m × 45 m (10,007 ft × 148 ft) and is used primarily for commercial flights, and is ILS Cat. I enabled. Until May 31, 2003 Tocumen International Airport was managed by the Civil Aeronautics Directorate (which is known today as the Civil Aeronautics Authority). On June 1 of that year, an innovative terminal management platform was created through Law No. 23 of January 29, 2003, which set out a regulatory framework for the management of airports and landing strips in Panama. This law allowed the creation of Aeropuerto Internacional de Tocumen, S.A., also referred to as Tocumen, S.A., which currently manages the terminal. This law is one of a number of laws that restructured the aeronautical sector in Panama to further its improvement and modernization.[2]

Air traffic

Tocumen Internation Airport is a regional hub for commercial flights heading to and from The Caribbean, South America, North America and Central America. Also, the European cities of Frankfurt, Madrid and Amsterdam are served. Common airliners at the airport include Boeing 737s, Embraer 190s and Airbus A320s. The largest passenger aircraft findable at the airport are the Airbus A340 and McDonnell-Douglas MD-11, brought by Iberia Airlines and KLM, respectively.

Tocumen International Airport is also the home airport of Copa Airlines.

Year Passengers % Change Cargo % Change Movements % Change
2003 2,145,489 11.5% 85,508 - 43,980 -
2004 2,398,443 11.8% 96,215 12.5% 45,703 3.9%
2005 2,756,948 15% 103,132 19.6% 47,873 4.6%
2006 3,215,423 16.6% 82,186 -20.3% 53,853 12.7%
2007 3,805,312 18.3% 82,463 0.3% 61,400 14.0%
2008 4,549,170 19.5% 86,588.8 4.8% 73,621 19.9%
2009 4,748,621 4.4% 83,513 -3.8% 80,330 9.1%
2010 5,042,410 6.2% 98,565 18.0% 84,113 4.7%
2011 5,844,561 15.9% 110,946 12.6% 93,710 11.4%
Busiest International Routes out of Tocumen International Airport (2010)[3]
Rank City Passengers
1 United States Miami, Florida 427,220
2 Colombia Bogotá, Colombia 368,862
3 Costa Rica San José de Costa Rica 334,419
4 Venezuela Caracas, Venezuela 265,749
5 Mexico Mexico City, Mexico 192,602
6 Cuba La Habana, Cuba 189,450
7 United States Houston, Texas 186,098
8 Peru Lima, Peru 168,983
9 Dominican Republic Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic 160,004
10 Colombia Medellín, Colombia 136,227
11 Argentina Buenos Aires, Argentina 135,344
12 Guatemala Guatemala City, Guatemala 127,490
13 Brazil São Paulo, Brazil 126,568
14 United States Orlando, Florida 118,968
15 United States Newark, New Jersey 111,731
16 Ecuador Guayaquil, Ecuador 107,841
17 El Salvador San Salvador, El Salvador 106,104
18 Chile Santiago de Chile 103,014
19 Ecuador Quito, Ecuador 98,651
20 Netherlands Amsterdam, Netherlands 96,199

Reference

Airlines and destinations

Map showing Non-stop destinations from Tocumen International Airport

Main terminal

AirlinesDestinations
Air TransatSeasonal: Edmonton[4], Montréal-Trudeau[4], Toronto-Pearson[4], Vancouver[5], Winnipeg[6]
American AirlinesDallas/Fort Worth, Miami
AviancaBogotá
CanjetSeasonal: Toronto-Pearson[4]
Cayman Airways Grand Cayman [begins May 31, 2012][7]
Condor FlugdienstFrankfurt, Santo Domingo
Copa AirlinesAruba, Asunción, Barranquilla, Belo Horizonte-Confins, Bogotá, Brasilia, Buenos Aires-Ezeiza, Cali, Cancún, Caracas, Cartagena de Indias, Chicago-O'Hare, Córdoba, Curaçao [begins June 10, 2012], Guadalajara, Guatemala City, Guayaquil, Havana, Iquitos [begins July 14th, 2012] [8] [9], Kingston, Las Vegas [begins June 27, 2012], Liberia (Costa Rica) [begins June 24, 2012], Lima, Los Angeles, Managua, Manaus, Maracaibo, Medellín-Córdova, Mexico City, Miami, Montego Bay, Monterrey, Montevideo, Nassau, New York-JFK, Orlando, Port-au-Prince, Port of Spain, Porto Alegre, Punta Cana, Quito, Recife [begins 23 June 2012], Rio de Janeiro-Galeão, San Andrés Island, San José de Costa Rica, San Juan, San Pedro Sula, San Salvador, Santa Cruz de la Sierra-Viru Viru, Santiago de Chile, Santiago de los Caballeros, Santo Domingo de Guzmán, São Paulo-Guarulhos, St. Marteen, Tegucigalpa, Toronto-Pearson, Valencia (Venezuela), Washington-Dulles
Copa Airlines ColombiaBarranquilla, Bogotá, Bucaramanga, Cali, Cartagena de Indias, Cúcuta, Guatemala City, Medellín-Córdova, Pereira, San José de Costa Rica, San Pedro Sula
Delta Air LinesAtlanta
Dutch Antilles ExpressCuraçao
IberiaMadrid
KLMAmsterdam
LacsaMedellín-Córdova, San José de Costa Rica
SBA AirlinesCaracas
Spirit AirlinesFort Lauderdale
Sunwing AirlinesToronto-Pearson
Seasonal: Montréal-Trudeau[10]
TACA AirlinesSan Salvador
TAMEGuayaquil, Quito
United AirlinesHouston-Intercontinental, Newark
VenezolanaCaracas, Maracaibo

Cargo airlines

AirlinesDestinations
ABSA Fortaleza, Guayaquil, Manaus, Miami, Quito.
AeroSucre
Cargolux
Cielos del Perú
DHL Aviation operated by DHL Aero Expreso
FedEx Express
LAN Cargo
Líneas Aéreas Suramericanas
TAB - Transportes Aéreos Bolivianos Miami, Santa Cruz de la Sierra-Viru Viru
UPS Airlines
Vensecar Internacional

Expansion 1

The 2006 expansion and modernization project consisted of three stages:

Passenger terminal expansion

The main passenger terminal was expanded 20,830 m2 (224,200 sq ft) at a cost of approximately US$ 21 million. New boarding gates were built to allow more flights to and from Panama, and to facilitate the growth of commercial and internal circulation areas.

Tocumen International Airport departures terminal

Tocumen airport administration acquired 22 new boarding bridges and replaced the oldest 14. This included the addition of 6 remote positions, hence allowing Tocumen Airport to have a total of 28 boarding gates. The new installations were opened in 2006. The airport also has two vip lounges, one Copa Club in partnership with United Airlines for Copa Airlines, and an Admirals Club for American Airlines.

Equipment

The next step of the modernization project was the purchasing of new equipment to provide service and support to the common areas of the airport.

New equipment included: modern boarding gates and elevators, luggage conveyor belts, flight information system, and revamping the air conditioning system.

Renovation in the cargo terminal

The renovation of the old Tocumen international airport (originally built in 1947) to be used solely as a cargo terminal, was the last step of the modernization project of Tocumen international airport. It included the redesign of the central building, the construction of new buildings for cargo companies among other improvements. [11]

Expansion 2

Muelle Norte

The second expansion phase of Tocumen International airport is known as Terminal Muelle Norte. At a cost of USD 60 million, a completely new terminal with 12 additional aircraft docking positions (gates) was built. With these 12 new gates plus the existing 22 gates and the six remote aircraft docks, there will be a total of 40 gates.

The new facilities include platforms, taxiways and a new road which connect both the cargo terminal and the airport's administration building. The Muelle Norte is linked to the main passenger terminal and have 10 moving walkways for passengers and 1,400 m2 (15,000 sq ft) commercial areas. The luggage sorting system was expanded to accommodate increased demand. Also, one gate designed to accommodate the Airbus A380 and the Boeing 747 was built. The tender for the design of the second phase was given to Ecuador-based Planman Cia Ltda. Colombia-based Aerotocumen won the tender of the construction of the Muelle Norte. The project started in mid-October 2009 and it was completed and inaugurated on January 20, 2012 by President Martinelli. It was fully opened for the tourists and passengers on April 2012.

Capacity will increase from 5 million to 10 million passengers per year.

References

Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency

  1. ^ Template:WAD
  2. ^ "History of Tocumen Airport". Tocumen Airport Panama. Retrieved 2010-08-01.
  3. ^ http://www.tocumenpanama.aero/upload/files/Reporte_estadistico2010.pdf
  4. ^ a b c d http://www.airtransat.ca/en/Info/flight-schedule-.aspx?ExitID=FLTSCHEDULE&ContentType=voyageur
  5. ^ http://www.yvr.ca/en/flight-information/destinations.aspx
  6. ^ http://www.waa.ca/flights/airlines/sun-destinations
  7. ^ http://www.centralamericalink.com/en/News/Cayman_Airways_launches_twice_weekly_Panama_flight/
  8. ^ http://airlineroute.net/2012/04/06/cm-s12update3/
  9. ^ http://www.tnews.com.pe/noticias/importante-vuelo-entre-iquitos-y-panama-en-julio.htm
  10. ^ http://www.sunwing.ca/Panama-Travel/Costa-Blanca-Vacation-Packages.asp
  11. ^ "Expansion Plan of Tocumen Airport". Tocumen Airport Panama. Retrieved 2010-08-01.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tocumen_International_Airport&oldid=494612783"