By Nicolás Larenas / January 2, 2025

The Quito International Airport ends 2024 with more than 5.3 million passengers transported, which implies a 1% drop compared to 2023.

The management balance of the Mariscal Sucre International Airport reflects a stable behavior of passenger traffic, practically in line with the traffic registered in 2023, while, in air cargo, the operation shows sustained growth figures that keep the Quito airport as one of the most important in the Latin American and Caribbean region.

2024 CLOSED STABLE DESPITE THE DEPARTURE OF AIRLINES

Passenger traffic in 2024 exceeded 5.3 million passengers, with a slight drop compared to 2023 of 1%. Throughout the year, 16 passenger airlines connected Quito with 19 direct international destinations and 8 domestic destinations.

A new low-cost airline entered the Ecuadorian market serving the route between Quito and Lima, allowing more connections from the Peruvian capital to other destinations in the southern cone. In addition, a new destination was added to the Quito airport's offer: Punta Cana, in the Dominican Republic.

During 2024, four airlines stopped operating due to external factors, such as Aeroméxico - due to the diplomatic crisis with Mexico - while JetBlue, Wingo and Viva Aerobus left the market due to strategic issues and fleet limitations.

"The performance that the Quito airport has achieved in 2024, a very difficult year for the country due to all the crises we had to overcome, has been very positive thanks to the commitment of all the actors that make up the Mariscal Sucre community. We had to concentrate our efforts on maintaining passenger traffic and developing air cargo, which still has significant growth potential," said Ramón Miró, president and general director of Corporación Quiport.

AIR CARGO GROWS FOR THE FOURTH CONSECUTIVE YEAR

In air cargo, Quito airport maintained the growth trend recorded since 2021. 354 thousand metric tons of export, import and national cargo were transported in 2024, exceeding the 340 thousand tons of 2023. Export cargo by air from Quito had a great performance, close to 300 thousand metric tons left the Mariscal Sucre airport. 92% corresponds to flowers, the main export product by air. 15 cargo airlines operated at Quito airport in 2024.

This growing volume of cargo did not go unnoticed in the industry. The International Council of Airports of Latin America and the Caribbean (ACI-LAC) published a report on the ranking of the main cargo airports in the region in which Quito airport is ranked fifth, making Quito one of the main air cargo hubs in Latin America and the Caribbean.

EXPANSION OF THE AIRPORT RESUMES 

The main milestone of Quiport's management in 2024 was the resumption of the expansion work at the Mariscal Sucre airport, which includes 17,000 m2 on four levels of the passenger terminal and 35,000 m2 of a platform for aircraft parking and taxiways, thanks to an investment of US$ 74.2 million, Quiport Corporation's own resources.

The work will be completed in December 2025 and will allow the airport's capacity to increase from 5 million passengers to 7 million passengers per year, which will impact employment and promote tourism.

One of Quiport's main commitments is to maintain the infrastructure in optimal conditions that guarantee the safety and efficiency of operations. In 2024, major preventive maintenance work was carried out on the airport's runway and taxiways to replace the asphalt layer.

In March, the national VIP lounge expansion work began, doubling its useful area and capacity, giving it a local identity through design elements that recall the architecture that characterizes the city and maintaining the same service quality standards for passengers who use this space.

NOTE FROM CNH TOURS:

Having passed through many dozens of airports around the world, we can attest to the Quito airport as being one of the better well-designed and very functional places to catch a flight.   It helps that it's relatively small. The national departures area (for your flight to Galapagos) is spacious and bright, with large floor to ceiling windows and a decent (if pricey) restaurant - a good place for a more substantial breakfast on your way to the islands.   Immigration and customs can be a bit long... more so as international flights often arrive rather late at night and disembarking passengers are already tired after a long flight.  

The airport is located quite a distance from the city though. Plan for a 40 minute drive when traffic is light.   

We are proud to announce that at its recent Annual General Meeting, Marc Patry, co-owner (with his wife Heather Blenkiron) of CNH Tours was voted in as a governing member of the Charles Darwin Foundation (the CDF) General Assembly.

Marc's previous work at the Charles Darwin Station (operated by the CDF), helping develop and launch the largest ever alien species eradication project in history (the Isabela Project - eradicating goats from Isabela Island) has given him a good understanding of the CDF and how it works.  Of additional value were his 12 years working as the Latin American point person for natural World Heritage (WH) sites at UNESCO's headquarters in Paris.   He was in charge of monitoring the state of conservation of WH sites and maintaining constructive dialogues with site managers and government agencies responsible for their conservation.   The Galapagos Islands were part of his responsibilities, and thanks to that job, he kept a close tab on management issues, strengthening his network of on-the-ground contacts in Galapagos, while developing a new network amongst senior government officials.

As a governing member of the CDF General Assembly, Marc has proposed to act as a communications conduit beween the CDF and the WH Centre back in Paris, where he maintains good contacts, particularly with his replacement there at the Latin America desk, and with the newly appointed director of the Centre, who was a long time colleague of Marc's.   The WH Convention can play a very constructive role in helping / encouraging national governments to deal with conservation challenges.