05-01-2018

Pending issues at the Jorge Chávez airport

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Operations at the Jorge Chávez International Airport have reached a maximum limit compared to their capacity and potential. It currently serves almost 20 million passengers a year despite its ability to serve approximately 15 million. Likewise, more than 125 thousand tons of our most important agro-export products are served, among which stand out the asparagus, mangoes, blueberries, fresh peas, flowers and avocados, among others, that are sent by air to the main markets of America. , Europe, Oceania and Asia.

The logistics of air cargo transport have a particular complexity that must be taken into account and today is a problem to be solved due to the important growth of operations that has not been accompanied by the expansion of the necessary infrastructure due to lack of space. A possible temporary solution is to decongest air traffic at the Jorge Chávez airport while the extension works that would last five years are being executed. The adjacent lands of the Armed Forces could be well used to expand this attention capacity of the first air terminal in the country. This initiative is really necessary at a time when passenger and cargo traffic has exceeded the capacity of the current air infrastructure, which is generating high congestion and delays in flights.

The problem of the current infrastructure not only limits the entry of new airlines, but also the expansion and development of those that already operate, since it is difficult to program new frequencies and offer promotional rates that encourage greater passenger traffic. This problem generates cost overruns to airlines and service companies, which are currently taking over them. "The problem of the current infrastructure not only limits the entry of new airlines, but also the expansion and development of those that already operate."

The competent authorities should indicate as soon as possible which areas should be transferred temporarily to the airport operator, and define what their uses will be so that they can execute the necessary works that will speed up the passenger traffic. This will in turn prevent further restriction of access to cargo aircraft, whose attention has been limited to slots and limited parking positions.

In the case of Peruvian agroexports, speed in transportation is a critical factor due to the perishability of the cargo and the need to ensure that it arrives at its destination under the quality conditions demanded by the foreign importer and final consumers.

More than 30% of the agro-export products of our country are transported in cargo aircraft. Therefore, the temporary solution implemented at the Jorge Chávez airport should not fail to consider an alternative for the air cargo transported under that modality. But, in addition to solving the problem of the aforementioned airport, it is also necessary to project the air cargo infrastructure that must be done near the centers of agro-industrial export production.

We must take into account the areas of Piura, Lambayeque, La Libertad, Ica and Arequipa. In this way, in some years the production of thousands of tons of asparagus, mangoes, blueberries, peas, flowers and avocados, among other agricultural products, would not have to travel more than a thousand kilometers to reach the Jorge Chávez airport to be shipped to its final destination.

This is a topic to be solved in the near future, but whose planning and execution must also begin today.

 

Source: Gestión