Guayaquil International Airport

Active

In December 2003, the Guayaquil Airport Authority (AAG) awarded a 15-year concession to build, rehabilitate, operate and transfer the Guayaquil International Airport to Terminal Aeroportuaria de Guayaquil SA (TAGSA). The project stipulated that TAGSA had 29 months from the signing of the contract (February 2004) to complete expansion works that included a new international terminal with capacity for three million passengers per year, a cargo terminal and a control tower as part of an investment plan to regain the airports' status as a category 1 airport. Works also included the repair of the existing runway and construction of an internal bus road linking the national and international terminals. Construction began in mid 2004 and was expected to be finished by July 2006. TAGSA was formed by the New York based American International Airports (AIA), Argentina’s Corporacion America SA (CASA) and the local Deller Group. The project cost was estimated at US$80 million. The contract was awarded thorugh a competitive tender in which the bidding criteria was the highest percentage of gross income to be paid to the government. TAGSA won by offering 50.5%; the consortium formed by Hidalgo & Hidalgo and Aena offered 35.57%, and a consortium of Agunsa and Odebrecht 29.12%. AAG established a minimum bid of 20%. Income at the airport was expected to be about US$20 million, which means Corporacion America will pay around US$10 million annually. In 2008, the contract was extended until 2024. Terminal Aerea de Guayaquil SA (TAGSA): http://www.tagsa.aero/ Ecuadorian city Guayaquil's new international airport terminal José Joaquín de Olmedo will become fully operational on August 14, 2006. Guayaquil's former terminal Simón Bolívar will end operations once the new one becomes fully functional, and within a year it is expected to be turned into a convention center, as well as a land terminal.