Each day thousands and millions of people visit South America for one or the other reason. Some visit to explore various places, some for business purposes, and some for other work. Well, before reaching there everyone first look at the airport that serves the city. The airport is actually the gate to enter the province of the city. Well, those planning to visit Quito, the capital city of Ecuador, can reach to the city through Mariscal Sucre International Airport, which serves as the city as a whole.
The city of Quito lies in the Amazonas Avenue and De la Prensa Avenue. Being served by the airport that welcomes more than 3.9 million passengers and 125,000 metric tons of freight each year, the airport became a major international airport in the city. In fact, the airport is among the highest in the entire world and lies in the northern side of the city, in the Chaupicruz parish. This place is located within five minutes of the financial center of the city. The Mariscal Sucre International Airport (UIO) boasts two distinct terminals and also has an official website as www.quiport.com. The airport lies in the middle of Quito and is bounded by the mountains. Well, due to this reason, the airport cannot be expanded.
With the problem that the airport cannot be enlarged, it has failed to incorporate the functions of larger aircrafts or an increased number of air traffic. Well, the operations are too risky and the airport has records of six serious accidents and many incidents that happened in recent years. With this, a new airport has been constructed in the Tababela parish that lies at a distance of 18 kilometres towards the eastern direction of the city. The airport has been built by a private consortium and is scheduled to start its operations in October 2010. The present airport comprises of only one terminal that is divided into a national as well as international area.
The airport operates several airlines like Aerogal, AeroRepública, Avianca, American Airlines, Copa Airlines, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Icaro, Iberia, KLM, LAN Ecuador, Lacsa, LAN Perú, Santa Barbara Airlines, SAEREO, TAME, TACA Peru, and VIP. Besides this, the airport is also operated by some cargo airlines like AeroSucre, Atlas Air, Arrow Air, Cielos Airlines, Florida West International Airways, Líneas Aéreas Suramericanas, Martinair, Southern Air, Singapore Airlines Cargo, TAMPA Cargo, and UPS.
As the airport is served the city entirely, it boasts 300 parking spaces for the long-term and short-term parking. You can even hire a car from any of the car companies that represent the airport. Budget, Avis, Hertz, Team, and Localiza are the companies that have their own desk at the airport. So hire one and head wherever you want to go in the city. Apart from this, the airport also offers public transportation like buses, shuttle, and taxis. If you are looking for the information desk at the airport, then head to the international departure or else towards the domestic departure. The airport has two different booths to solve the queries and problems of the passengers regarding the airport. In fact, the airport also has bilingual customer service personnel.
The airport also has a booth to offer tourist information and lies in the International arrivals. Well, like the other airports in the world, the Mariscal Sucre International Airport also offers some basic facilities like money and communications, eating and drinking, shopping, luggage, conference and business, and some other facilities. Besides this, the airport also offers facilities for the disabled travellers like ramped access and lifts, parking spaces, adapted toilets, and wheelchairs on request. For money and communications, the airport has US currency ATMs and bureau de change. Besides this, the airport has telephone booths, restaurants and cafeterias to get refreshed. Try your hand in shopping, as the airport boasts plenty of different shops.
Some other facilities that the airport offers are medical, pharmacy, and emergency services. Those looking for conference and business facilities can make their job done through the VIP lounge. For accommodation, the airport has no hotels on the site. So you need to manage at the nearby area from the airport.
