Expat Community > Ecuador

jedard
Joined 2010
Posts: 104

NEW AIRPORT QUITO

11 years ago

Transportation Between Quito and the New Airport

FROM GRINGOTREE
http://www.gringotree.com/cuenca/articles/mod/articles/article.php?article=38

February 6, 2013

The new Quito International Airport is on target to open on Wednesday February 20, two weeks from today.

When the original airport was built in 1960, it was at the far northern edge of the metropolitan area; in the last 53 years, Quito has completely surrounded it. The new airport is more than ten times larger (on 3,700 acres compared to 311 acres), at a lower elevation, and with longer runways and much greater plane and passenger capacities.

The new airport has been completed and ready to open for months, but because it’s situated approximately 30 miles east of the city (near the town of Tababela) and the access roads were rural until now, its opening has been postponed.

Road-widening construction has been progressing at a feverish pace and, according to officials, improvements to Av. Interoceánica (E28), the main route from Quito to the new airport, are almost finished.

However, it’s not a highway. It passes through the sprawling eastern suburbs of Cumbayá and Tumbaco, then proceeds to the gorge at the Rio Chiche.

This is where the big bottleneck is expected to occur; no amount of road improvements can alleviate it. The bridge, built in the 1970s, is two lanes, one in each direction. The plan is to build a new bridge upriver about a half-mile; it’s scheduled to be completed in 2015. But since construction hasn’t begun yet, the reality of the new bridge is anyone’s guess.

Transportation to and from the new airport is expected to take anywhere between 45 and 90 minutes, depending on traffic. In time trials, the one-way trip has averaged 75 minutes.

As for public transportation, according to a story in the Quito daily newspaper, El Comercio, the company Aeroservicios will provide bus and van transportation between the new airport and the main terminal at the old airport. From the old airport, you’ll have to transfer to a taxi or city bus to get to central Quito.

The Aeroservicios 22-passenger buses will cost $8 each way and leave four times an hour during peak periods, twice an hour the rest of the time. Smaller Aeroservicios vans will also be available and cost $12.

In addition, upwards of 500 taxis will service the new airport. Leaving from the new airport, passengers will pay for their rides at set fares, determined by distance, at ticket counters. Traveling to the airport, the article says something to the effect that the use of meters will be mandatory 24 hours a day, with fares regulated by the Ministry of Transportation.

Five public bus operators will also service the new airport; these buses will travel along a dedicated right-hand lane on a regular schedule; the fare will be 68 cents.

A consortium of Quito hotels is currently negotiating with the authorities for private-transportation services to transfer hotel guests to and from the new airport.

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It should be interesting to see how all this works in real life.

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