Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport


Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport , also known as Santiago International Airport and Nuevo Pudahuel Airport, located in Pudahuel, north-west of downtown Santiago, is Chile's largest aviation facility and busiest international airport.
Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport has domestic and international services to destinations in Europe, Oceania, Asia and the Americas. In 2011 it was the ninth busiest airport in Latin America and the sixth busiest in South America by passenger traffic. It was the seventh busiest airport in Latin America by aircraft movements, serving 124,799 operations. Its location in Chile's most populated area, as well as in the central part of the country makes of it an ideal main hub and maintenance center for most local airlines such as LATAM and Sky Airline. LATAM Airlines accounts for approximately 82% of the airport's total commercial operations.
The airport is owned by the Chilean government and has been operated since October 2015 by Nuevo Pudahuel, a consortium of companies formed by Aéroports de Paris, Vinci and Astaldi. Air traffic control is handled by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation.
Its ICAO category is 4F. The airport functions as a joint civil-military facility. It is the headquarters of the Chilean Air Force 2nd Air Brigade and where its 10th Aviation Group is based.
Santiago International is the longest non-stop destination for most European carriers including Iberia, Air France, and British Airways from their respective hubs in Madrid–Barajas Airport, Paris–Charles de Gaulle, and London–Heathrow Airport. In addition, LATAM flies to Frankfurt via Madrid.
The airport is also South America's main gateway to Oceania, with scheduled flights to Sydney, Auckland, Easter Island, Papeete and Melbourne. The Santiago–Rome non-stop flight operated by Alitalia is the longest flight to ever fly out of this airport.

History

Early years

The demands of the growing metropolitan area of Santiago and the need for modern, jet-era airport facilities, which could safely accommodate both domestic and intercontinental flights, drove the need to relocate the Chilean capital's principal airport from Los Cerrillos Airport in the denser southwest metropolitan region of Santiago to the more rural northwest metropolitan area.
Construction of the original terminal building, the eastern runway, control tower, east apron and cargo facilities commenced in 1961. On February 2, 1967, the airport was commissioned Aeropuerto Internacional de Pudahuel, due to its location in the municipality of Pudahuel. On March 19, 1980, the airport was rechristened Air Commodore Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport in honour of the founder of the Chilean Air Force and Chilean carrier LATAM Chile.

1994 expansion

The facility was expanded in 1994 with a new international terminal that covered 90,000 square meters, inspired by the architecture of Marseille Provence Airport in France. The building is located between the two parallel runways.
This expansion added a new control tower, jetways, a duty-free zone, hotel, and greater parking area. The old terminal was used for domestic flights until 2001, when all passenger operations were merged into the same building.
In 2000, Lan Chile joined Oneworld, making of Arturo Merino Benitez Airport a main hub for the alliance, its first one in Latin America and its second in the Southern Hemisphere. As of April 2014, 71% of international and 75% of domestic passengers were carried by Oneworld member airlines.
During the 2010 Chile earthquake, the passenger terminal building suffered internal damages and the collapse of a pedestrian bridge between the vehicle ramp and the departures area. Nevertheless, both runways and control tower were unharmed, allowing the realization of a massive humanitarian air-bridge held by the Chilean Air Force to Concepción, Chile, close to the most damaged area by this earthquake and subsequent tsunami. The airport authority had closed off all commercial flight operations after around 1200 UTC on February 27, resuming full operations on March 3, 2010.
In 2011, IATA recognized the DGAC and SCL with the Exceptional Recognition Award to the cooperative efforts of SCL and DGAC Chile that facilitated a quick recovery from the devastation that followed the Chilean earthquake on 27 February 2010. "Both airport and air navigation services were restored quickly with no impact on rates or charges for passengers or airlines. DGAC Chile and SCL are widely regarded as leaders in Latin America for efficiency, quality, and customer focus.
In June 2011, Santiago International Airport received the Air Cargo Excellence Award, as the best Latin American Cargo Airport.

Second runway

Construction on Runway 17R/35L began in 2004 and opened to traffic in September 2005. However, within months defects were discovered and the runway required repairing, completed in January 2006. Unfortunately further study of the problem discovered that the initial repairs were insufficient, needing additional work. Finally, 17R/35L reopened for traffic in March 2007.

2020 Master plan and expansion

In 2008, the airport terminal reached its maximum design capacity of 9.5 million annual passengers, two years earlier than forecast, and with the repairs needed after the 2010 Chile earthquake, the Ministry of Public Works announced in 2012 that it would call for proposals for the expansion and administration of the airport, two years prior to the end of the contract with the current operator.
The ministry decided to investigate a new airport master plan instead of an expansion of the single passenger terminal building, as initially proposed by the current operator. The feasibility studies for this master plan cost 4,560 million Chilean pesos considered in the 2011 fiscal budget.
For this new master plan, the Government hired the consultancy services of Aéroports de Paris Ingeniérie, the architecture, engineering and technical branch of the French airport corporation.
The master plan took into account a capacity growth to 14 million annual passengers by 2014, thirty-four million by year 2034 and 50 million passengers by 2045. New detached passenger terminal buildings for international and domestic flights, additional commercial areas and the construction of a light railway connecting the airport with the Santiago Metro network were considered.
In June 2013, the Chilean Ministry of Public Works started Phase 1 of the airport expansion.
On February 4, 2015, the consortium "Nuevo Pudahuel", formed by French companies Aéroports de Paris, Vinci Airports and Italian infrastructure company Astaldi won the bidding process to manage and develop the airport for 20 years since October 1, 2015. The main missions of the new administration will be "the renovation of existing installations with the redesign and extension of the current terminal; the funding, design and construction of a new 175,000-square-meter terminal which will increase the airport's capacity to 30 million passengers, with potential for expansion beyond 45 million; the operation and commercial development for the duration of the concession of the main infrastructures: existing terminal and new terminals, car parks and future property developments. Building works will be executed by Astaldi and Vinci Construction Grands Projets ".

Passenger terminal

The terminal building has four levels:
The terminal building hosts the following services:
bank office, Chilean Automobile Club, telecommunication companies, pharmacy, travel agencies, insurance offices and a police station.

Shopping

The airport has four tax-free shops. They are handled by the Spanish duty-free operator Aldeasa. One of them is located just after the police border control at departures, while another one is located before the baggage claim area.
Souvenirs, jewellery, Chilean handcrafts and wine shops, music and accessories among others, are available in more than 70 stores.

Restaurants

The airport has 21 restaurants, coffee shops and bars, located in the public area and in the national and international departing lounges.

Airline lounges

In the international terminal, the operators are:
The airport is the headquarters of the Chilean Air Force II Air Brigade and hosts the 10th Aviation Group facilities. The 10th Aviation Group is in charge of Strategic Air Transportation, the Airborne Early Warning & Control Squadron, medical air transport emergencies and the air transportation of the President of Chile. Some of its units are C-130 Hercules, Boeing 767-300, Boeing 737 Classic, Gulfstream IV, CASA C-212 Aviocar, F-16 Fighting Falcon, AEW&C Condor.
The FIDAE, Latin America's most important air show takes place in the 10th Aviation Group facilities.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

The LATAM Chile flight to Tel Aviv has a stop in São Paulo. The same aircraft then continues to Tel Aviv under the same flight number. The same occurs on the return flight.

Cargo

Statistics

RankCityPassengers% ChangeAirlines
1 Lima, Peru1.796.183 8,5%Avianca Perú, JetSmart, LATAM, Sky Airline
2 Buenos Aires, Argentina 1.612.412 0,4%Aerolíneas Argentinas, Air Canada, LATAM, Sky Airline, KLM, JetSmart
3 São Paulo–Guarulhos, Brazil1.392.222 7,7%LATAM, GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes, JetSmart, Emirates, Sky Airline
4 Bogotá, Colombia662.425 3,0%Avianca, LATAM
5 Madrid, Spain521.485 9,8%Iberia, LATAM
6 Rio de Janeiro–Galeão, Brazil512.990 0,5%LATAM, GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes, Sky Airline
7 Panama City, Panama468.416 2,1%Copa Airlines
8 Miami, FL, US467.427 0,1%American Airlines, LATAM
9 Mendoza, Argentina298.059 19,7%LATAM, Sky Airline
10 Mexico City, Mexico288.788 0,7%Aeroméxico, LATAM
11 Montevideo, Uruguay262.107 5,2%LATAM, Sky Airline
12 Sydney, Australia250.238 9,7%Qantas, LATAM
13 Paris–Charles de Gaulle, France242.575 4,0%Air France
14 Cordoba, Argentina190.027 32,7%LATAM
15 New York–JFK, NY, US182.953 1,4%LATAM
16 Dallas/Fort Worth, TX, US148.472 0,8%American Airlines
17 Atlanta, GA, US127.533 0,2%Delta Air Lines
18 Houston–Intercontinental, TX, US124.918 3,4%United Airlines
19 Los Angeles, CA, US122.579 34,2%LATAM
20 Rome–Fiumicino, Italy119.887 1,5%Alitalia
21 Melbourne, Australia103.939 37,1%LATAM
22 Auckland, New Zealand101.703 7,1%LATAM
23 Toronto–Pearson, Canada93.203 13,4%Air Canada
24 Asuncion, Paraguay92.285 9,1%LATAM
25 London–Heathrow, UK91.649 19,4%British Airways
26 Guayaquil, Ecuador82.779 17,7%LATAM
27 Barcelona66.819LEVEL
28 La Paz, Bolivia62.525 10,2%LATAM
29 Amsterdam, Netherlands60.490 5,2%KLM
30 Florianópolis, Brazil53.245 3,1%LATAM, Sky Airline
31 Salgado Filho International Airport, Brazil42.284LATAM
32 Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia42.196 6,5%LATAM
33 Quito, Ecuador37.026LATAM
34 Cuzco, Peru36.881 189,2%LATAM
35 Cancún, Mexico32.043 13,3%LATAM
36 Neuquén, Argentina30.064 17,9%LATAM
37 Punta Cana, Dominican Republic28.584 13,9%LATAM
38 Rosario, Argentina26.360 72,2%LATAM
39 Frankfurt, Germany20.988 23,9%LATAM

RankCityPassengers% ChangeAirlines
1 Calama2.042.703 13,2%LATAM, Sky Airline, Jetsmart
2 Antofagasta1.822.066 4,9%LATAM, Sky Airline, Jetsmart
3 Puerto Montt1.430.272 10,5%LATAM, Sky Airline, Jetsmart
4 Iquique1.420.833 13,5%LATAM, Sky Airline, Jetsmart
5 Concepción1.332.730 11,6%LATAM, Sky Airline, Jetsmart
6 Temuco975.800 6,9%LATAM, Sky Airline, Jetsmart
7 Punta Arenas901.822 0,5%LATAM, Sky Airline, Jetsmart
8 Arica875.646 9,0%LATAM, Sky Airline, Jetsmart
9 La Serena866.512 12,9%LATAM, Sky Airline, Jetsmart
10 Copiapó615.383 8,7%LATAM, Sky Airline, Jetsmart
11 Balmaceda427.206 11,5%LATAM, Sky Airline, Jetsmart
12 Valdivia343.506 43,9%LATAM, Sky Airline, Jetsmart
13 Easter Island302.580 18,0%LATAM
14 Osorno162.958 18,1%LATAM, Sky Airline
15 Castro69.040 0,6%LATAM
16 Puerto Natales24.661 61,1%LATAM

Ground transportation

Roads

Arturo Merino Benitez is about by car from Santiago's city center. The airport is well served by the six-lane expressway Costanera Norte, which crosses through the city from West to East bordering the Mapocho river, while it is also well connected to the West, North and North-East of Santiago by the Vespucio Norte Express Ring motorway.

Taxi and shuttle services

There are two official airport taxi services: Taxi Oficial and Taxi Vip. TransVip shuttle services reach most of Santiago's hotels, business and residential districts.

Bus

Centropuerto buses connect the airport with Los Héroes station of Santiago Metro. Their frequency is every 10 minutes during weekdays and 15 minutes during weekends. Turbus offers a similar service to its Alameda terminal. Both these services stop at the Pajaritos metro station/bus terminal on the way.

Rental services

Car rental services are available from the airport.

Accidents and incidents