Mariscal Sucre International Airport <s></s> was the main international airport that served Quito, Pichincha, Ecuador. It was the busiest airport in Ecuador by passenger traffic, by aircraft movement and by cargo movement, and one of the busiest airports in South America. It was named after Venezuelan-born Antonio José de Sucre, a hero of Ecuadorian and Latin American independence. It began operations on August 5, 1960, and during its last years of operation, handled about 6.2 million passengers and 164,000 metric tons of freight per year. The airport, one of the highest in the world (at AMSL), was located in the northern part of the city, in the Chaupicruz parish, within five minutes of Quito's financial center; the terminals were located at the intersection of Amazonas and La Prensa avenues. Mariscal Sucre International was the largest hub for TAME with an average of 50 daily departures.

The old Mariscal Sucre International Airport ceased all operations at 19:00 on February 19, 2013, following the departure of TAME flight 321 to Guayaquil (scheduled for 18:55). Iberia operated the final international departure from the airport. On the morning of February 20, 2013, all operations moved to the new airport of the same name. The first domestic flights scheduled to arrive at the new airport were TAME Flight 302 originating in Guayaquil, and LAN Flight 2590 originating in Lima, Peru. The new airport is located in the Tababela parish, about to the east of the city. It was constructed by a private consortium.

The former airport is now the site of Parque Bicentenario, the biggest urban park in Quito.

Due to its location in the middle of a city surrounded by mountains, the old airport could no longer be expanded to accommodate any larger aircraft or an increase in air traffic. Its operation posed risks; several serious accidents and incidents had occurred in years prior to its closure.

History

Mariscal Sucre International Airport was inaugurated in 1960, the main terminal was designed during the government of President Velasco Ibarra. The present terminal and concourses (A, B and C) were refurbished in 2003, consisting of several taxiways, maintenance platforms, parking areas, a cellar, passenger halls, mezzanine areas and other amenities. Terminal B consisted of two floors; the lower level held the departures area with executive waiting rooms and restaurants, and the upper level consisted of airline and airport offices.

The airport had ten gates, five with Jet bridges and five with stairs.

Runway safety area

The airport had a runway safety area, built in 1999–2000 as a consequence of the crash of Cubana de Aviación Flight 389 in August 1998. The structure was erected in the immediate and adjacent areas to the start of runway 17 (end of runway 35), from where Flight 389 had strayed after its aborted take-off, which killed 81 people both in the jetliner and on the ground. The project, which involved private and public property expropriation, erected a horizontal berm-like platform 280 meters long and 92 meters wide

The safety zone covered all or part of the places through which the Cubana Tu-154 had passed before stopping. Tufiño Avenue, which circles the start of runway 17, had a two-way tunnel built to allow vehicular traffic under the new structure. Nearby streets and other surrounding residential areas and businesses were also protected from accidents by the new construction. The safety zone was finished and inaugurated in mid-July 2000.

  • 16 September 2011: TAME Flight 148 from Loja, 97 passengers & 6 crew, slipped off the runway at 19:11. A government official said some passengers suffered "light contusions", but none perished. Airport operations were halted for 3.5 hrs.
  • 27 October 2009: An Ecuadorian Air Force HAL Dhruv helicopter crashed during display maneuvers at Mariscal Sucre International Airport, with both pilots sustaining only minor scratches and no casualties. The aircraft was flying in military formation with two other helicopters.
  • 19 March 2009: An Ecuadorian Air Force Beechcraft B200 King Air struck a building in the Guápulo district of Quito while on approach to Mariscal Sucre International Airport in heavy fog. All five occupants of the aircraft were killed, as well as two people on the ground.
  • 23 September 2008: An Icaro Air Fokker F28 Mk4000 skidded off the runway. There were no injuries among the 62 passengers, but the aircraft was written off.
  • 9 November 2007: An Iberia Airbus A340-600 operating Iberia Flight 6463 was badly damaged after sliding off runway 35 and coming to a stop in the runway safety area. The landing gear collapsed and two engines were dislodged. All 333 passengers and crew were evacuated via inflatable slides, but no serious injuries were reported.
  • 20 April 2005: During a national popular revolt that deposed President Lucio Gutiérrez, protesters breached the airport perimeter with vehicles and blocked the runway as Gutiérrez attempted to flee Quito in an Ecuadorian Army Super King Air. The protester's assault resulted in the closure of the airport for several hours and forced the pilots to abort takeoff, after which Gutiérrez boarded an Army Alouette II helicopter, which had earlier removed him from Carondelet Palace, and fled to the safe haven of the Brazilian ambassador's residency in Quito before leaving for exile.
  • 17 January 2003: A TAME Fokker F28 Mk4000 suffered a runway excursion after takeoff was aborted due to a tire blowout. The nose gear collapsed, and the aircraft came to rest past the runway threshold and into the runway safety area. There were no injuries.
  • 29 August 1998: Cubana de Aviación Flight 389, a Tupolev Tu-154M overshot the runway, killing the 14-member crew, 56 of the 77 passengers and 10 people on the ground. a Boeing 727-200, aborted takeoff in rainy weather, but overshot the runway and ended up in the middle of a road that lay at the end of runway 35. The aircraft was overloaded. On the plane were the players of a Brazilian Corinthians soccer team.
  • 3 May 1995: The pilot of a Gulfstream II operated by American Jet, inbound from Buenos Aires via La Paz, selected the wrong VOR frequency during a nighttime approach to Quito; the jet flew further south than it should have, striking the Sincholagua volcano at . All seven occupants were killed. The flight was carrying an important number of oil executives from Argentina and Chile to a meeting in Quito. Amongst those killed was Argentine YPF's CEO and president José Estenssoro, who had led privatization efforts under Carlos Menem; Juan Pedrals Gili, the Spanish-born general manager of Chilean ENAP as well as Manfred Hecht Mittersteiner, chief of production at ENAP's international subsidiary Sipetrol.
  • 10 December 1992: A North American Sabreliner 60 operated by the Ecuadorian Air Force clipped a 10-story building under construction south of the airport. The aircraft crashed into a residential area, killing all 10 on board and 3 on the ground.
  • 3 June 1988: an Ecuadorian Air Force North American Sabreliner NA265-40A crashed in Quito, killing all 11 people on board including the commander of the Ecuadorian Air Force, and a high-ranking officer of Israeli Air Force
  • 18 September 1984: An AECA (Aeroservicios Ecuatorianos) Douglas DC-8-50 freighter failed to achieve altitude during takeoff, running off the end of the runway and crashing into a residential area past the runway, destroying 25 houses, killing all 4 crewmembers and 49 people on the ground
  • 29 April 1982: A Lockheed C-130 Hercules operated by the Ecuadorian Air Force crashed into a mountain near Quito while executing a missed approach; 7 were killed.
  • 27 January 1980: An Avianca Boeing 727 landed too fast, too far down the runway, and consequently overran, collapsing the nosegear. No injuries were reported.
  • 7 November 1960: An AREA Ecuador Fairchild F-27A struck the dormant Atacazo volcano in bad weather during its approach to the newly opened Mariscal Sucre International Airport after a domestic flight from Simón Bolívar International Airport, in Guayaquil. The crash, south of Quito and 150 meters to the summit of the Atacazo, killed all the 37 occupants of the plane. This particular aircraft (msn. 1, reg. HC-ADV) was the first prototype of the Fairchild F-27, which had been sold to AREA Ecuador in 1959. At the time, it was the worst aerial crash in the history of Ecuador, the first and worst fatal loss of an F-27, and the first accident involving the then-recently opened Quito airport.