The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (Opic) has finalised an agreement to provide US$200mn in Opic financing for the construction of a new international airport in Ecuador, enabling the country to accommodate greater commercial air traffic and improve safety.

Opic will provide an investment guaranty to Corporacin Quiport (Quiport), established in part by US sponsor HAS Development Corporation, affiliated with the Houston Airport System, for the construction of a new airport approximately 15 miles outside Quito.

Establishment of a new airport has been a priority for the Ecuadorean government: the downtown location of the existing airport, Mariscal Sucre International Airport, as well as its short runway length, restricts approach and take-off paths and thus limits aircraft payload and revenue-generating capacity.

The existing airport handles about 2.4mn passengers per year, and Ecuador has experienced stronger growth in total freight traffic than the regional average during the 1990s.
“Construction of a new international airport will facilitate economic growth in Ecuador by providing more reliable, safer, better airport operations, and by mobilising additional investment in the transportation infrastructure of the country,” says Opic acting president and CEO Ross Connelly. “Opic is pleased to support a project with so many economic and developmental benefits.”