From Sunday night until dawn this Monday, the Jorge Chávez International Airport, Peru’s main gateway, remained inactive without being able to allow the departure or arrival of national and international flights. Around 215 flights were canceled and rescheduled, affecting more than 10,000 passengers who were transferred to alternate terminals. After hours of uncertainty and general discomfort, the original fault was established: a short circuit in the networks that supply energy to the runway lights.
The damage exposed the carelessness and negligence of the Peruvian Corporation of Airports and Commercial Aviation (Corpac), the institution that manages the control tower and the flight runway. Although he tried to minimize the matter, the president of its board of directors, José Luis Barrios Espinoza, admitted that there is no contingency plan for this type of case and that the failure was probably due to the lack of maintenance of underground wiring installed in 2010. “It had never happened to us. It looks like there was a little wear,” he stated.
In the midst of the emergency and with thousands of passengers stranded, the poor management capacity of the State was also evident due to the fact that the second landing strip could not be used, inaugurated with great fanfare by President Dina Boluarte in April 2023. “It is a symbol of the horizon of progress for our country,” he said in those days. According to Barrios Espinoza, it is not operational due to a series of observations that have not been raised. “It has not been completely delivered by LAP,” he said in reference to Lima Airports Partners (LAP), the company that holds the concession to operate the Jorge Chávez airport. This was endorsed by the Minister of Transportation and Communications, Raúl Pérez Reyes: “The issue arises because if runway two had been operational this issue would have been minor, because what would have happened is runway number one and runway two would stop operating. “I would have been the one who would have attended.”
In October 2023, the Comptroller General of the Republic reported that the second landing strip has limitations for operating at night due to an optical distortion in the new control tower that generates a dual image through its glass. Journalist Paolo Benza, from the podcast La Contra, who reported the case, explains it like this: “due to the design of the glass, a virtual image of the aircraft approaching the runway is created. This occurs because the new control tower has insulated double-glazed glass. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) report has concluded that this duplication constitutes a danger. “We have built million-dollar aeronautical infrastructure so we cannot use it.”
Lima Airport Partners, the airport operator and builder of the new control tower, denied the Minister of Transportation and Communications as well as Corpac, ensuring that the second runway does work and that although it has complications for landings, it could be used for the departure of flights, which would have helped to avoid the total cancellation of trips.
“It is unfortunate that these statements came from the minister, because the runway is operational. President Dina Boluarte came, inaugurated and we have already had many flights. There is a problem that was identified with a small flaw in the light that could be seen from the glass; However, it is necessary for all citizens to know that these glasses that were installed work normally in other towers. This works like this and at other airports they operate like this, because they have air navigation systems that allow them to operate,” said Rocío Espinoza, LAP communications manager.
At 8:00, after ten hours of paralysis, LAP announced that operations at the Jorge Chávez International Airport were resuming. However, the emergency continued. As the hours passed, various tourists reported a lack of information regarding the rescheduling of their flights, as well as that various airlines did not take care of their stay or food. The National Institute for the Defense of Competition and the Protection of Intellectual Property (Indecopi) has indicated that passengers have the right to a refund of their tickets.
In the midst of this crossfire between the institutions that must ensure flights, the new Jorge Chávez international airport is being built on a nearby 90,000 square meter plot of land. According to authorities, progress has exceeded 85% and operations should begin in mid-December. Uncertainty spreads over the project. The background on how the current Lima air terminal is managed is not auspicious.
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