Quetzaltenango Airport

Infobox Airport
name = Quetzaltenango Airport
nativename =
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IATA = AAZ
ICAO = MGQZ
type = Joint
owner =
operator = Dirección General de Aeronáutica Civil
city-served =
location = Quetzaltenango
elevation-f = 7779
elevation-m = 2371
coordinates = Coord|14|51|55.98|N|91|30|07.13|W|type:airport|display=inline,title
website =
metric-elev =
metric-rwy =
r1-number = 05/23
r1-length-f = 6900
r1-length-m = 2103
r1-surface = Asphalt
stat-year =
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Quetzaltenango Airport Airport codes|AAZ|MGQZ (Aeropuerto de Quetzaltenango, or Aeropuerto de Xelajú) serves the city of Quetzaltenango also known as "Xelajú" or "Xela" and western Guatemala. It is operated and administrated by DGAC - Dirección General de Aeronáutica Civil de Guatemala.

General

Quetzaltenango Airport is located in the Guatemalan highlands, in the northeastern part of the city of Quetzaltenango. The airport is currently undergoing massive construction works, as part of a nationwide airport rehabilitation program [es icon [http://viajeaguatemala.com/pl/2007/agosto/20/180181.html PrensaLibre.com - Quieren ampliar operaciones aéreas ] ] . Serving Guatemalas second largest city, AAZ aims to gain international status, along with La Aurora International Airport and Mundo Maya International Airport. The whole region hopes to profit economically from this new airport. So far, the next airport to Quetzaltenango with regular airline connections was 200 km away, in Guatemala City. Until 2006 the airfield in "Xela" only consisted of a grass/gravel runway. It had no significant terminal building and only a small hangar. Air traffic was very limited due to many missing essential features for a safe and unobstructed operation. In September 2006 construction works began [es icon [http://www.prensalibre.com/pl/2006/septiembre/10/151351.html PrensaLibre.com - Inicia construcción de aeropuerto de Quetzaltenango ] ] , which include [ [http://www.elquetzalteco.com.gt/04.09.2007/locales/falta_un_32_por_ciento_para_concluir_aeropuerto] ] :

* extension, asphalting, signposting and illuminating of the runway and taxiway
* construction of a small terminal building and apron for four planes
* construction of a parking area

An emergency operations center has been installed at the airport in order to respond faster to disasters like hurricane Stan in the future [ [http://76.162.95.61/portal/Article6431.html COE instala bodega en aeropuerto de Quetzaltenango :: CERIGUA Centro de reportes informativos sobre Guatemala :: Democratizando las comunicaciones ] ] . The new runway was inaugurated by president Oscar Berger on January 10, 2008. The terminal is still under construction.

Criticism

* It was found out that, when Oscar Berger inaugurated the runway in January 2008, construction works had not been finished. The markings on the runway were faked for the official opening ceremony and had to be removed again for final coating. [http://www.prensalibre.com/pl/2008/marzo/01/223277.html] , [http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=451541&page=11]
* The terminal building revealed to be only a small house, not like anticipated a terminal building of international standard.
* The tower has not been built, hence safe operations are questionalble at the moment.

Aviation in Quetzaltenango

* The first airport was built in 1945 at La Esperanza and was transferred to the present site in 1955. Aviateca had daily flghts between Xela and Guatemala City, charging 25 Q those days. [http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=451541&page=10]
* In 1999 Miguel Angel Castro Conde constructed a two seater aircraft in Quetzaltenango, naming it "Quetzaltenango 1". It is said that it is the first and only ever built airplane in Central America [es icon [http://www.prensalibre.com/pl/domingo/archivo/revistad/2007/mayo07/060507/aeronautica.shtml Revista D - PrensaLibre.com ] ] , [ [http://historiadexela.tripod.com/index41.htm Untitled Document ] ] .

Coatepeque Airport

In the same department of Quetzaltenango, another smaller airport has been modernized in Coatepeque with a small terminal and a runway of about 959 meters [es icon [http://www.prensalibre.com/pl/2007/julio/07/176461.html PrensaLibre.com - Red aeroportuaria, lista para fin de año ] ] .

Airlines

Currently there are no scheduled passenger flights to Quetzaltenango.

* Aviones Comerciales de Guatemala (Avcom) (charter flights only)
* Helicopteros de Guatemala (Charter helicopter flights only) [http://www.helicopterosdeguatemala.com/]
* Transportes Aereos Guatemaltecos (charter flights only) [ [http://www.tag.com.gt/espanol/destinos.htm Transportes Aereos Guatemaltecos ] ]

Quetzaltenango hopes to attract international flight connections in the future. But there is still no information about potential routes or airlines.

Previous carriers and destinations

* Inter Regional, a regional subsidiary of Grupo TACA in Guatemala, offered scheduled flights to Guatemala City between 1999 and 2002, using Cessna Grand Caravan aircraft [ [http://www.tacaregional.com/inter/ing/initinerarios.html TACA REGIONAL ARILINES | INTER - Schedules & Fares ] ] . There were two daily flights (TA 1932, TA 1918). Flying time to Guatemala City was scheduled with 40 minutes.

Incidents

On 1 November, 1998 a Douglas DC-3 (N3FY) carrying 18 crew and passengers crashed near the airport into mountainous terrain. Bad weather during approach is the probable cause. There were 11 fatalities. [ [http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19981101-0 ASN Aircraft accident description Douglas C-47A-90-DL (DC-3C) N3FY - Quetzaltenango ] ]

On 13 October, 1999 a private Bell 206 helicopter (TG-AMA) crashed near Quetzaltenango. Both occupants were killed [ [http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20001212X19969&key=1 FTW00RA156 ] ] .

Notes

External links

* [http://www.dgac.gob.gt Dirección General de Aeronáutica Civil]
* [http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=451541&page=9] discussions about the future of the airport
* [http://www.elquetzalteco.com.gt/04.09.2007/locales/falta_un_32_por_ciento_para_concluir_aeropuerto] actual status of the constructions
* [http://www.sigloxxi.com/index.php?link=noticias&noticiaid=15016&PHPSESSID=d971ae7d05edc9ce] newspaper article concerning the constructions