Jorge Chávez International Airport

 

 

The airport was conceived in 1960 to replace the old Limatambo International Airport, which was located in the San Isidro District, because it had been surrounded by the new residential areas in the east of the city of Lima. Without the modern facilities built later, the first international flight was carried out on June 22, 1960; and four months later, on October 29, 1960, President Manuel Prado Ugarteche inaugurated it with the name Lima International Airport. Its later name is due to the young aviation pioneer, the Peruvian aviator Jorge Chávez.

Lima's first airport was the Limatambo Airport in San Isidro. It ceased operations in 1960 due to a lack of space and capacity, and was replaced by the Lima-Callao International Airport, which was inaugurated by President Manuel Prado Ugarteche on 29 October of the same year. In June 1965, the Lima-Callao airport was renamed the "Aeropuerto Internacional Jorge Chávez" after the famous Peruvian aviator, Jorge Chávez Dartnell. In December 1965, the terminal building was officially opened by President Fernando Belaúnde after 11 months of reconstruction. The airport did not receive any renovation or change in infrastructure for 35 years.

After winning a competition to design the plans by the architects Carlos Arana, Antenor Orrego, Juan Torres, Miguel Bao and Luis Vásquez, and 11 months of reconstruction, it was officially reopened on December 30, 1965, by President Fernando Belaúnde. It was considered in its time as one of the most modern airports in Latin America due above all to the very advanced and award-winning architecture of the passenger terminal. The airport did not receive any major changes to its infrastructure for the next 35 years, except for isolated remodeling and expansions in different sectors of the terminal.

When it was in operation, Compañía de Aviación Faucett had its corporate headquarters on the airport premises.^[2] Aerolíneas Peruanas was founded in 1956 as Peru's first flag carrier airline but would cease operations in 1971, being replaced by Aeroperú. For a long time, Aeroperú was the largest airline in Peru, and also one of the largest in South America. It would be declared bankrupt in 1999 after the Aeroperú Flight 603 accident, in which a Boeing 757 leaving the airport to Santiago, crashed in the Pacific Ocean, killing all 70 people on board. Along with Aeroperú, Faucett Perú and other large airlines would also cease operations. LATAM Peru, then known as LAN Peru, would become the largest airline in Peru, controlling most of the domestic market.

By decision of the Government of Peru, in 2001, it was awarded a concession to the company Lima Airport Partners (LAP), a German-American consortium of Fraport, with the purpose of undertaking its expansion and comprehensive remodeling. As part of the process, the Peruvian congressional commission held talks with LAP. These conversations resulted in an agreement in which LAP committed to remodeling the airport facilities.The air traffic control is managed by the Peruvian Corporation of Airports and Commercial Aviation (CORPAC). The Peruvian government engaged Jaime Malagón, Jerome Jakubik, Paul Slocomb, and Víctor M. Marroquín of Baker and McKenzie international law firm, to oversee the changes.

In February 2005, the first phase of remodeling of the terminal was completed, which included the total renovation of the existing infrastructure, the construction of the Peru Plaza Shopping Center and the new concourse with 18 boarding gates, 7 of which have boarding bridges . In June 2007, a four-star hotel, Ramada Costa del Sol, opened at the airport, whose building is directly connected to the passenger terminal by an elevated pedestrian bridge.^[3]

In January 2009, the second phase of the terminal expansion was commenced. The terminal has 28 gates, 19 with boarding bridges. In August 2009, the LAP announced that in 2010, the airport would have a new category III instrument landing system to help with landing in foggy conditions.^[4] Arquitectonica, a Miami-based architectural office, and Lima Airport Partners planned a second terminal and expansion of the main terminal.

On October 24, 2018, the Peruvian state delivered all the land for the expansion and modernization of the Jorge Chavez airport to the airport operator "Lima Airport Partners". The estimated investment of US$1,200 million includes the construction of a new runway, a control tower and a passenger terminal in addition to the existing one. On the other hand, the state will build a new bridge and highway on the current Santa Rosa Avenue that will connect directly with the "Costa Verde" highway, benefiting a lot of tourists and entrepreneurs who are only going to visit Miraflores^[5] and the south.^[6] Works was to be completed in 4 years, by the beginning of the year 2023, and will allow the transit of 40 million passengers per year by 2030.^[7][8][9] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, work was delayed but continued in 2021. The new terminal will be completed in December 2024.

 

The airport hosts the Wyndham Costa del Sol hotel which is located adjacent to the control tower and the arrivals exit. The hotel is built with noise canceling panels. The Peru Plaza Shopping Center is located near the passenger terminal in the Grand Concourse area. The food court is located near the entrance of the passenger terminal on the second floor and is always open. There is also an ice cream vendor selling some special Peruvian flavours such as chirimoya and lucuma.

The airport has numerous premium lounges in the departures terminal, such as VIP Peru. For passengers in first class, there is an exclusive salon near the gates, the VIP Club.

 

For tourist information, Iperú modules are available, located at national and international arrivals and national and international departures. There, free information material is distributed as well as information about the main tourist destinations in Peru.

On 12 May 2009, the airport opened Lima Cargo City, a hub for cargo airlines.^[10]

 

Transportation between the airport and the city is provided by taxis, tour buses and vans. Airport Express Lima is the official bus of Jorge Chávez Airport. Line 2 and Line 4 of the Lima Metro are currently under construction. Some companies of taxis and buses offer services to visit the city, some of them transit through the avenues: Faucett, Linea Amarilla, Tomás Valle, De La Marina, Colonial and Costa Verde.^[19] Some go north, east, to the historic center and the Financial Center; and others towards Miraflores and the south area like Pachacamac and Surco.

For safety reasons, it is advisable to only take taxis from companies that are located in the national or international arrivals area. You can also request taxi service via smartphone applications, which are secure and have standard rates. There is also the possibility of renting cars, contacting companies also located at international arrivals. They commonly travel through Elmer Faucett Avenues, La Marina Avenue (connects with the districts of southern Lima and those with high hotel offerings such as San Isidro and Miraflores), Tomás Valle (connects with Lima Norte, Lima Este, Rimac and with the Historic Center), Javier Prado, Pan-American Highway North, South, Vía de Evitamiento and Yellow Line.

• November 27, 1962: Varig Flight 810, a Boeing 707-441 registration PP-VJB flying from Rio de Janeiro to Jorge Chávez International Airport, after initiating an overshoot procedure at the suggestion of the control tower because it was too high, proceeded to start another approach when it crashed into La Cruz peak, 8 miles (7.0 nmi; 13 km) from the airport. Possibly there was a misinterpretation of navigation instruments. All 97 passengers and crew aboard died.^[20][21]
• May 8, 1964: an Argentine Air Force Douglas C-54 registration T-47 flying from Buenos Aires to Jorge Chávez International Airport crashed into a sand dune during approach in poor visibility conditions, killing 46 of the 49 people on board.^[22]
• August 6, 1986: an explosion of unknown origin occurred at a restroom in the domestic terminal.^[23]
• December 8, 1987: a Peruvian Navy Fokker 27-400M registration AE-560 flying from Pucallpa to Jorge Chávez International Airport chartered by the Alianza Lima football team crashed into the Pacific Ocean shortly before landing. A malfunctioning cockpit indicator made the crew believe that the landing gear was not properly deployed and locked, so they requested the control tower to allow the plane to make a low pass for a visual check by ground personnel. After receiving the confirmation that the landing gear was down, the aircraft circled the airport for another attempt to land, but plunged into the ocean instead, killing all on board except the pilot.^[24]
• March 10, 1989: an Aero Condor Britten-Norman BN-2A Islander registration OB-1271 flying from Nazca to Jorge Chavez International Airport crashed into a building during approach killing all on board, apparently due to fuel exhaustion.^[25]
• January 25, 1991: a car bomb placed by the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) killed two Peruvians and wounded ten people. The attack occurred in a context of condemnation, by left-wing armed groups and political movements, of Operation Desert Storm; minutes after the attack, the US Embassy in Lima was attacked with an RPG and small arms fire by the MRTA.^[26][27]
• July 24, 1992: five American Airlines employees, charged with cleaning and baggage loading duties, were wounded by a bomb. This happened during the weekend in which Shining Path enforced a 48-hour nationwide "armed strike" that aimed at paralyzing, among other services, public transportation.^[28][29]
• January 22, 1993: three bullets hit the right side of the fuselage of American Airlines Flight 917 (inbound from Miami) while either landing or taxiing on the runway after landing. There were no casualties and damage to the plane was minimal. Despite Shining Path (SP) claiming responsibility for the attack, a subsequent investigation failed to identify the actual assailants. Airport authorities reportedly stated that the source of the shots was accidental, originating in a security guard working in the perimeter.^[30] The incident, occurring in the context of a decade-long leftist insurgency against the Peruvian state, happened in the midst of a surge of terrorist attacks and assassinations during that month which also targeted US interests and businesses.^[31]
• April 15, 1995: an Imperial Air Tupolev Tu-134A-3 registration OB-1553 flying from Cusco to Jorge Chavez International Airport suffered a tire failure after departure. The crew decided to continue the flight to Lima, but the left main landing gear did not extend during landing. There were no fatalities, but the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.^[32]
• October 2, 1996: Flight 603, an Aeroperú Boeing 757-23A registration N52AW flying the Miami–Lima–Santiago route crashed into the Pacific Ocean some minutes after its takeoff from Jorge Chávez International Airport, killing all on board. The accident investigation found that masking tape was accidentally left over the static ports during maintenance, rendering the airspeed indicator, altimeter and vertical speed indicator unreliable.^[33]
• On December 13, 2003, at 22:48 local time, Aero Continente Flight 341, a Boeing 737-200 (registered OB-1544-P) operating from Caracas to Lima, belly-landed at the runway because the pilots had forgotten about lowering the landing gear since they had to cope with a problem concerning the flaps. The aircraft was damaged beyond repair, but all 94 passengers and six crew on board survived the accident.^[34][35]
• On October 11, 2013, an Airbus A320 (registration N492TA) from TACA Airlines, made an emergency landing at 8:20 am Local Time. The pilot declared an emergency due to smoke in the cockpit. The aircraft was en route from Jorge Chávez International Airport to El Salvador International Airport, San Salvador, El Salvador. There were 31 passengers plus crew on board. The aircraft landed safely.^[36]
• On November 18, 2022, a LATAM Peru A320neo taking off as Flight 2213 to Juliaca collided with a fire engine that was crossing the runway, killing two firefighters and injuring a third. All 102 passengers and 6 crew aboard the plane escaped unharmed.^[37][38]

• Transport in Peru
• List of airports in Peru
• Aeropuertos del Perú, another airport operator

  Media related to Jorge Chávez International Airport at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website
• Travel Test Clinics in Peru, Travel Restrictions for International Travel from Peru