History
Located at the center of Northern Patagonia and near the Archaeological site of Monte Verde Actually it is located in the middle of nowhere, a considerable distance from Puerto Montt, for which no one has a credible explanation. The construction of the runway at El Tepual airport was completed in April 1960, and became the site of a great airlift after the a magnitude 9.5 earthquake hit the area on May 22, 1960. The airport with its original terminal was officially inaugurated in 1963. After Augusto Pinochet left Chile's Presidency, a plan was put on the run by the new government to make new airport terminals and freeways across the country, so that Chile's smaller cities could have better connections with Santiago. Puerto Montt, along with Calama and other small areas, were among the most benefitted places out of the number of Chilean cities listed on the project.
Puerto Montt had been jokingly referred to as a "popular tourist resort" but it is less a tourist destination than a transportation terminal. The city itself has very little of interest to tourists, but its location makes it significant for trade and transportation. During the early 1990s, the numbers of international tourists (specially those from neighboring countries such as Argentina and Brazil) grew considerably. In 1995, the new airport terminal finally opened, with Lan Chile as the largest airline company flying there.
LAN Airlines, as Lan Chile is currently known, has kept on operating services regularly at the airport along with more recent startups such as Sky Airline, with a number of charter airlines also flying to El Tepual.
El Tepual is owned by a number of international companies, headed by Chile's IDC,or Administracion de Concesiones. In 1998, IDC agreed to operate the airport for twelve more years, which would make El Tepual their property until 2010.
A new terminal was inaugurated in February 2010, having increased the number of jetways from 2 to 5, as well as improving the check-in area, baggage claim, airport security, heating system and other airport facilities as well as significantly enlarging the parking lot.
Read more about this topic: El Tepual Airport
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