LIMA’S £3,000,000 JET AIRPORT

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29378, 3 December 1960, Page 10

LIMA’S £3,000,000 JET AIRPORT

Impressive Undertaking Completed [By C. N. Griffis, a Reuter Correspondent] LIMA (Peru) The new £3,000,000 Lima-Callao international airport, designed for use by jet aircraft, is one of the largest and most modern airport installations in Latin America. Situated on the coastal plain, some three miles north-east of the port of Callao and eight miles northwest of the business centre of Lima, the new airport has been completed in a little over a year. A double-lane access road and bridge over the Rimae river, links the new airport with roads between the capital and the port.

The main runway is 11,504 feet long and 147.64 feet wide, with asphalted aprons on either side where required to provide additional clearance and deal with the dust problem arising from jet aircraft. In addition to the main runway, which has a 30-centi-metre (11.8 inch) stone foundation and is paved with a 30-centi-metre (11.8 inch) concrete block, there are 5597 metres (18,358 feet) of taxiways. AU runways, taxiways and other functional facilities have been completed, together with a large temporary terminal building which wiU serve as a cargohandling warehouse when the permanent terminal building is completed next year. Jet services to Lima were inaugurated earlier this year by Pan American Grace Airways, Braniff International Airways. K.L.M. Royal Dutch Airlines, and Air France, which have ■ been using the Las Palmas military airport, some eight miles south of the city. Midway between Las Palmas airport and the capital is the Limatambo commercial airport, which has been in use for more than 20 years, and which will continue to be used for the piston-engine aircraft of the domestic and other South American airlines until some time next year.

approach is froni the ocean, eliminating the hazard of land obstacles and noise nuisance over built-up areas. At Limatambo, further inland, there was also the hazard of the proximity of the Andean foothills. All airports in Peru are built and operated by CORPAC (this name deriving from the Spanish initials for Airports and Commercial Aviation Corporation), a semi - autonomous Government agency of which Mr Federico Hilbok, who built the Limatgmbo air terminal, is president In designing the new airport, he and his Peruvian engineering staff were assisted by Mr Pietro Vigna an Italian engineer, now a United States citizen, connected with the United States Federal Aviation Agency. A veteran of World War I, Mr Vigna has acted as consultant in the construction of a number of airports in Latin America, as well as in Italy. Afghanistan, and Liberia. He has been decorated by the Peruvian. Bolivian and Colombian Governments.

The terminal building at Limatambo. completed in 1948 and considered one of the finest architectural achievements in Latin America, is now being offered for sale for 13,000,000 soles (approximately £170.000). If it is not sold, it may be used to house one of the Government Ministries. -AP . the surrounding airport area ls 501x1 for urban development. The revenues from this sale wall considerably exceed the cost of the new airport and the surplus is being earmarked for provincial airport construction. The new jet airport is only a tew metres above sea level or ? p P 1 ’ o * imate ly 147 metres (475 reet) lower than Limatambo. The