This is what the new Jorge Chávez International Airport will look like, which will be the largest air complex in South America. Video: Infobae/Igor Ybáñez
With the expansion works completed, the Jorge Chávez International Airport, which is located in the coastal area of Lima, seeks to become the largest air complex in South America, for which it has been investing more than US$ 1,600 million.
In addition, the main air terminal in Peru, operated by Lima Airport Partners (LAP), has the goal of becoming an ‘Airport City’ by 2025 and a center with the largest flight connections in the region, where airlines can make scales to other important cities of the world.
Given these developments, Infobae interviewed Lorena Trelles, head of Communications for the Jorge Chávez Expansion Project of LAP, who commented that Peru, having a privileged place on the map, will allow new airlines and logistics companies to invest in the country with the modernization of the airport.
“In the new expansion project we have been building very important milestones, the first is a new control tower whose civil works are 100% complete, we have also completed our second runway that will come into operation together with the control tower in January 2023″, indicated the LAP representative.
The project also contemplates the construction of a new five-story passenger terminal that will join the current runway, as well as a large business and commercial center.
The Jorge Chávez airport currently has approximately 920 hectares of land, in 2018 it received 600 hectares from the Peruvian state to build the modernization works and joined the 300 hectares that the airport already had. Thus, the size of the air terminal is equivalent to the district of Miraflores.
The new infrastructure of the new terminal will have the capacity to serve 37 million passengers.
Since Jorge Chávez is the size of a district in Lima, LAP is working on a new concept that has been called ‘Airport City’. With this concept, not only do all passengers converge within a terminal, but also in an experience that has a commercial area, offices, hotels and parking lots.
In addition, a logistics center and a free zone will be built in the future outside the terminal in the Gambeta avenue area. “In 2025, when the new passenger terminal comes into operation, the airport will also be invigorated with this commercial and logistics initiative,” said Lorena Trelles.
“In reality, ‘Airport City’ is a concept that seeks to connect the dreams of people: businessmen, passengers and tourists who arrive in the country; and what we want is to give them a better experience in the air terminal and not only with the commercial part but also with the logistics part”, mentioned the spokeswoman for the project.
Construction of the new passenger terminal.
As part of its projects in the country, LAP is investing more than US$ 1,600 million in this expansion project, which has already made significant progress. This is how all the people who have the opportunity to travel in January 2023 will be able to do it on the second runway of the airport.
Likewise, LAP has been working with the Peruvian Airports and Commercial Aviation Corporation (Corpac) to start up the new control tower that will come into operation in January 2023. “When the new runway works, the current runway will be close to do a deep maintenance”, limited the executive.
It should be noted that the Jorge Chávez Airport will have a new access through Santa Rosa Avenue, which crosses with Morales Duárez Avenue, where the Ministry of Transport and Communications (MTC) will build a bridge that will allow direct access to the airport. new air terminal.
“The Jorge Chávez has a privileged location that no other country in the world has, since it is only three kilometers from the port of Callao, which allows a rapid flow of merchandise for export,” said the LAP executive.
The new Jorge Chávez airstrip will be put into operation in January of next year.
Lorena Trelles explained that in 2018, when they received the land from the state, they began to mobilize part of the economy, hiring new labor for the airport remodeling work.
“During the pandemic that began in 2020, several people lost their jobs; however, during that time, LAP continued with the expansion works, for which new personnel continued to be hired. Thus, from 2018 to date we have generated more than 15,000 jobs,” reported the LAP representative.
It should be noted that the Jorge Chávez Airport currently generates 90,000 jobs and with this expansion it is expected to double this number of jobs by 2025.
The LAP representative said that one of the problems and challenges that the company has had is to continue building in the midst of the covid-19 pandemic, where there were many restrictions; however, today two completed works can already be seen.
“We have worked directly with our construction consortiums to be able to finish the works and be able to meet our contractual commitments, which was a bit difficult to sustain in the pandemic,” Trelles commented.
Likewise, the executive indicated that they are in constant conversations with the state, for which it has been decided that the operation of the airport in 2025 will be with a single terminal, since previously it was planned to operate with two.
The new control tower of the Jorge Chávez airport will come into operation in January 2023.
According to the spokeswoman for the project, the commercial space of the new airport will have the equivalent of five jockey seats, which in the future will have a convention center, business offices, hotels and parking lots. This area will function independently from the passenger terminal.
“The commercial area is a concession area where we are looking for investors, both domestic and foreign, and not only to be inside the terminal, but also in the commercial areas where there will be restaurants, a duty free, among others,” said Trelles.
New control tower of the Jorge Chávez airport.
In addition, the executive explained that there are companies of all kinds that are interested in investing in this project that will come into operation in 2025. “In all that space, in the first stage, there will be a four-star hotel, as well as a group of offices with parking lots,” he added.
“Several new ‘low cost’ airlines are entering Peru and they see the Peruvian market as very attractive, especially this expansion project where there will be more space for airlines to position themselves. Precisely the new terminal will have parking for national, international and mixed flights. There is an opening of airlines to be able to arrive in Peru and begin operations soon, “said Trelles.
Lorena Trelles, Head of Communications for the Jorge Chávez Expansion Project of LAP.
♦ The current terminal of the Jorge Chávez airport has 90 thousand square meters and was designed to receive 13 million passengers.
♦ Given the boom that the country has had due to tourism in 2019, 23 million passengers were mobilized in the main Peruvian air terminal, that is, 10 million more than the planned capacity.
♦ This year it is expected to close the flow of passengers at the Jorge Chávez airport at 18 million, and the behavior has still been changing due to the covid-19 restrictions. “We have set ourselves the goal of recovering the figures for 2019”, estimated the LAP representative.
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