Quito’s brand new airport has had to close 10 times since it’s started operating on Feb. 20. 

The airport in Tababela was built to replace Quito’s old downtown airport, which couldn’t expand to accommodate necessary safety features like a longer runway.

Tababela’s closures have occurred mostly during the early morning: between 2 and 4 am and between 6 and 9 am.

On March 31 and April 1, the airport was closed twice, for four hours each time. Flights were diverted to Guayaquil (which is eight hours away by road).

The airport’s management company, Quiport, said in their monthly report that bad weather closures are normal at this time of the year, and similar to those that would have presented at the old airport. The report also says that Tababela’s better runway and radio system means it can actually stay open during weather events that would have compromised operations at the old airport.

Quiport says that they will begin to use an instrument landing system (ILS) to manage traffic on runway 18 (designated for flights arriving from the north). Currently, ILS is only in use on the runway 36, used for flights coming from the south. Quito’s old airport also only had one ILS system, for southern flights.

Original story