Cuenca Airport Gets Migration and Anti-Narcotics Units — International Flights Getting Closer

The Biggest Expat Wish: Direct International Flights from Cuenca

If you've ever grumbled about flying Cuenca → Quito → Miami (or Cuenca → Guayaquil → Houston), you're not alone. Direct international flights from Cuenca's Mariscal La Mar airport have been the single most requested infrastructure improvement in the expat community for years.

It's getting closer.

What Just Happened

The Corporación Aeroportuaria de Cuenca (CORPAC), which manages Mariscal La Mar, has signed agreements to install two critical units at the airport:

1. Anti-narcotics unit — required for any airport handling international flights
2. Migration/immigration unit — needed to process international arrivals and departures

These aren't just bureaucratic checkboxes. Without these units physically on-site, the airport cannot legally process international flights. Getting them installed is a prerequisite for everything else.

Airlines in Talks

CORPAC has confirmed it's in active discussions with four airlines for potential direct international routes:

• Two Peruvian carriers — likely LATAM Peru and/or Sky Airline for Lima routes
• One Colombian carrier — likely Avianca or Wingo for Bogotá routes
• One American carrier — the holy grail for expats

No routes have been confirmed yet, and there's a significant hurdle: the runway.

The Runway Problem

Mariscal La Mar's runway is 1,900 meters (approximately 6,200 feet). That's short for international operations. For comparison:

• Quito's Mariscal Sucre: 4,100 meters
• Guayaquil's José Joaquín de Olmedo: 2,790 meters
• Cuenca's Mariscal La Mar: 1,900 meters

The short runway limits the aircraft types that can operate here. Large widebody jets (like the Boeing 787s that fly Quito-Miami) can't land at Cuenca. But smaller narrowbody aircraft (Airbus A319, A320, Boeing 737) can — and those are exactly what airlines use for regional routes.

A Lima or Bogotá route is very realistic with the current runway. A direct Miami flight would require either runway extension (expensive, complicated by the airport's urban location) or a specific aircraft configuration.

What This Means for Expats

Short-term (2026): Don't cancel your Quito connecting flights yet. The migration and anti-narcotics units need to be built, staffed, and certified. Airlines need to formalize route agreements. This is a process.

Medium-term (2027-2028): A Lima or Bogotá connection is the most realistic first international route. From Lima, you can connect to virtually anywhere — including the US on non-stop flights. That would cut 2-4 hours off many expat itineraries.

Long-term: If demand justifies it and infrastructure permits, a direct US route would be transformative. But don't hold your breath — the runway limitation is real.

The Bigger Picture

Cuenca's airport is located right in the city — about 5 minutes from El Centro by taxi. That's incredibly convenient but also limits expansion. Any runway extension faces urban geography challenges.

There have been periodic discussions about building a new airport outside the city (similar to what Quito did with its new airport in Tababela). That would be a decade-long project at minimum.

For now, the pragmatic path is: get the existing airport certified for international operations with the current runway, start with regional routes (Lima, Bogotá), and build from there.

What You Can Do

Nothing, really — except keep flying. Airline route decisions are driven by demand data. Every seat filled on the current Cuenca-Quito and Cuenca-Guayaquil flights strengthens the business case for making Cuenca a direct international destination.

And remember: LATAM just launched Cuenca-to-Galápagos flights starting March 31. The airport is growing, even if international flights are still on the horizon.

Source: El Universo