The old airport became to small. Furthermore there was right in the middle of the city. From today the flights to Qutio will go elsewhere.
The new one is located in Tabalela, 42 miles away. Many are unhappy with having to travel so far. To get to the old one, it was a fifteen minutes drive from downtown. A taxi cost $ 5. But the neighbors of the airport who got his hat blown off their heads several times a day are happy. And maybe it was just a matter of time before a serious accident would occur again on the short runway
The new one is named “Mariscal Suce“, as the old. No other heroes could beat the “Mariscal” in the name contest, the hero of the independece war who also gave the name to the country’s native currency, “sucre”. It was proposed to call it Mitad del mundo, center of the world, but it was probably not the right cadence.
It was supposed to open in October. But the roads were too narrow to stand the expected traffic. So the government had to extend the mandate of the old one until February 20th . There is still a lot to do with the roads, but the moving process has started.
The new Mariscal have capacity for 5 million passengers annually. 7,000 jobs are directly related to airport operations. 11 event locations are planned. Some of us look forward to enjoy a refreshment at “Darwin’s bar“. For those who has to drive it will certainly be good coffee at “Cafe Amazonia“.
How will the traveller get to the downtown from the airport, and vice versa? The government has set a fixed taxi fare of $ 25 usd. The new airport bus will go every 15 minutes during rush hour and every half hour otherwise. The price is reasonable $ 8 usd. The mayor of Quito has promised that the trip will not take more than 90 minutes at the most.
But surely it will take a while before everything go smoothly. Some good stories will arise in the wake of this. We will with enjoy share the ones we hear with you. You are likewise welcome to share any experiences on this site.