Чили планирует создать миллион дополнительных авиамест, продлив работу региональных аэропортов до 24 часов

Chile could create capacity for more than one million additional airline seats every year without building a single new airport. Instead, the country’s aviation industry wants to make better use of airports that already exist by keeping regional terminals open for longer — and in some cases around the clock. La Araucanía Airport has just become Chile’s second regional airport to introduce 24-hour operations, while La Serena has also extended its operating schedule. Airlines now want similar changes at another six airports across the country. READ MORE: - South America Is Building Its Own Single Aviation Market - GOL Is Flying to Europe for the First Time - U.S. and New Zealand Invest $60M in a Tiny Pacific Island Tongareva One airport is going 24 hours La Araucanía Airport, serving Temuco and one of southern Chile’s most important tourism regions, will now be able to handle flights 24 hours a day. Chile’s transport authorities expect the extended schedule to allow around 30 additional flights per month, particularly during the busy summer season. The country’s civil aviation authority is increasing technical and operational staffing at the airport by 20% to cover the additional overnight shift. The change could also allow airlines to schedule more direct regional flights rather than sending passengers through Santiago. At present, around 96% of La Araucanía’s traffic is on the Santiago route. Six more airports could follow Chile’s airline association ACHILA and the International Air Transport Association are pushing to extend operating availability at another six regional airports: Copiapó, Valdivia, Osorno, Castro, Balmaceda and Puerto Natales. The industry estimates that expanding operating hours across the regional network could create conditions for more than one million additional airline seats annually. That doesn’t mean one million seats will appear immediately. Airlines would still have to decide where there is sufficient demand to deploy the additional capacity. But longer airport hours give carriers considerably more flexibility to use aircraft efficiently, particularly early in the morning and late at night. Chile wants to use the airports it already has The strategy highlights a less obvious constraint on aviation growth. Airport capacity is usually associated with runways and terminals. But an airport that closes for part of the day can leave usable infrastructure sitting idle while airlines struggle to fit additional flights into available operating windows. La Araucanía handled around 580,000 passengers between January and July 2026 and recorded more than 1.1 million passengers in its record year of 2024. Around 6,000 flights used the airport in 2025. Authorities are separately studying a potential terminal expansion for 2028, but the immediate capacity increase requires no new runway or terminal. Regional passengers could benefit most The wider objective is to reduce Chilean aviation’s dependence on Santiago as the country’s dominant connecting point. More flexible operating hours could make direct services between regional cities commercially easier for airlines to schedule while also increasing frequencies on existing routes. That could be particularly important for destinations such as Puerto Natales, the gateway to Torres del Paine, and Balmaceda, which serves Chilean Patagonia. If the industry ultimately delivers the projected million additional seats, one of Chile’s biggest aviation expansions could come not from constructing another airport, but simply from keeping the existing ones open longer.