Maiquetía Simón Bolívar International Airport

Simón Bolívar International Airport of Maiquetía is Venezuela's principal international gateway and the only airport of meaningful scale serving Caracas, the capital of roughly 2.9M residents, and the greater metropolitan population of around 5M. Located on the Caribbean coast 13 mi (21 km) north of Caracas at 234 ft (71 m) elevation in the state of Vargas (now La Guaira), CCS handles 87 routes across 38 destinations through 25 airlines. The airport is named for Simón Bolívar, the liberator of northern South America and national hero of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. The dramatic coastal approach with a steep climb to Caracas's 3,000 ft (914 m) elevation highland setting gives CCS one of the more distinctive topographical operating environments in Latin America. CCS traffic and international connectivity have contracted severely since 2015 under the combined effect of Venezuela's economic collapse, currency and capital controls, aviation-fuel shortages, U.S. and EU sanctions, and the exodus of most foreign airlines that once operated the airport as a South American hub. Conviasa (the state-owned Venezuelan flag carrier), Estelar, Laser, Turpial, and regional operator Rutaca provide the bulk of remaining domestic and limited international service. Foreign carriers still operating scheduled service include Copa (Panama City), Avianca (Bogotá), Caribbean Airlines (Port of Spain), Wingo (Bogotá), and a handful of additional regional connections to Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Turkey (Turkish Airlines maintains the only European service after the 2018 withdrawal of Iberia, Air France, and Lufthansa), and Russia (intermittent service by various Russian charter operators). Gradual U.S. licensing exceptions have permitted limited humanitarian and family-reunification operations. The airfield has two asphalt runways — 10/28 at 11,483 ft (3,500 m) and 09/27 at 9,930 ft (3,027 m) — with length requirements driven by the combination of tropical climate and the nearby high-altitude terrain surrounding Caracas. Two terminal complexes operate: the international terminal and the separate domestic terminal (officially named Auxiliar), connected by internal shuttle. The airport is operated by the Venezuelan state authority INAC through a succession of management arrangements. The dramatic access highway from CCS to Caracas climbs through the Ávila mountain range via tunnels and a cable-stayed viaduct (completed in 2007 after a 2006 landslide destroyed the prior highway), producing one of the most memorable airport-to-city ground trips in the Americas.