Poor management risks holding up use of new Lima airport upgrades

Sunday's power blackout on the landing runway at Peru's main airport, Jorge Chávez international airport (AIJC), which serves capital Lima, has again demonstrated the disorganization in the management of the airport, which looks likely to delay the news of the upgraded facilities.

This time, the poor management of state-owned air traffic control and runway lighting maintenance company Corporación Peruana de Aeropuertos y Aviación Comercial (Corpac) shows that the country lacks competent technicians, even in the capital, to respond to emergencies and there is a lack of an immediate plan to respond to such problems.

Between Sunday and Monday (June 2-3), the airport was left without power on the runway for almost 10 hours, forcing flights to be diverted to other smaller airports that lack the facilities to handle large aircraft, and even to other countries.

Although the airport is now receiving flights again, Corpac representatives said that they could not rule out the possibility of a similar event happening again, given that there has been no maintenance on the runway lights for some 14 years.

These problems are a reality check for the expanded airport, at which operations are due to begin in December, after works costing some US$2bn are completed. The upgraded airport will have two landing runways to operate.

RECORD

The blackout on Sunday and Monday is not the first time that Corpac's poor management has forced operations to shut down at Jorge Chávez. In November 2022, a coordination failure caused a plane to crash into a fire truck, killing two firefighters. Videos published by local media showed that the accident was due to disorganization on the part of air traffic controllers, which led to flights being diverted to other airports, as happened this time.

Corpac is responsible for both air traffic control and maintenance services for runway lighting. Company president José Barrios said that, in addition to failing to carry out maintenance, there is no emergency plan and/or generators to provide power to the runway, causing indignation among the public.

As in the aftermath of the 2022 incident, the diversion of national and international flights to other airports demonstrated the shortcomings of infrastructure outside the capital, as in the case of Pisco international airport, 230km south of Lima, where further disorganization led to an Airbus 350 plane crashing into a pole, with the airport also lacking a boarding bridge large enough for the passengers to exit the plane.

NEW TOWER AND RUNWAY

Although AIJC already has a new control tower and landing runway that could be used to serve flights, they have not been used since November 2023 after a short circuit in the tower and problems with its glass windows, which reportedly cause significant reflections that distort the view of aircraft, which is thought to be the reason why Corpac is not using the new infrastructure.

“In August 2023, LAP [Lima Airport Partners] began a glass replacement plan according to a recommendation from the International Civil Aviation Organization, following an observation by Corpac about an optical effect caused by the glass," LAP, the firm responsible for the construction works on the expanded airport, said in a statement.

The first new windows were installed in April and it was approved by public infrastructure regulator Ositran and supervisory consortium Cesel-Ineco, but Corpac has requested a second inspection. 

LAP said it sent a letter to the transport ministry (MTC) in early May underscoring that neither Corpac nor the ministry had set a date for that inspection, thus preventing the new tower and runway from being used.

OPENING

Construction on the upgraded airport has progressed 85% and it is due to be delivered on December 18. Although LAP's commitments include handing over the facilities and maintaining them, Corpac will be responsible for air traffic control, despite not using them yet.

According to investigative journalist Paolo Benza, although Corpac blames the glass problem for not using the tower, the air traffic controllers will only start training on using the new tower later this month, which means that there will be a delay in using the facilities, meaning that the existing control tower will have to be used for a while, and that the new runway cannot be used either.

Source: LAP