Cusco’s Alejandro Velasco Astete International Airport (CUZ) reopened this Saturday for commercial operations after being closed for more than 30 hours as a result of the violent demonstrations that took place in its surroundings, whose participants threatened to enter the airport perimeter.
The first flight to land in Cusco was LATAM Airlines’ LA2028 at 6:13 a.m., followed at 6:30 a.m. by LA2331 and at 6:40 a.m. by SKY’s H2 5001, all from Lima.
For this Saturday, 28 flights are scheduled to arrive at Cusco airport: 16 LATAM flights (all from Lima except one from Puerto Maldonado and one from Arequipa), 5 from SKY, 4 from JetSMART and 3 from Viva, all of them also from Lima.
“We have coordinated with the police and military forces to guarantee the integrity of passengers and members of the aeronautical community, as well as to safeguard airport operations,” said the Peruvian Ministry of Transport and Communications.
#AHORA Cientos de manifestantes en Cusco marchan en los alrededores del aeropuerto de esta ciudad.
👉 Decenas de policías protegen los accesos y el interior de esta sede.
👉 Ayer se suspendieron los vuelos y las operaciones.
📹 OjoPúblico / Vidal Merma pic.twitter.com/CAoaiWjO0f
— OjoPúblico (@Ojo_Publico) January 13, 2023
CORPAC, the state-owned operator of the Cusco airport, recommended passengers to use the airlines’ official channels to coordinate and/or reschedule flights.
“We reiterate our commitment to ensure the safety of passengers, as well as our collaborators; likewise, we salute the support and backing of the forces of law and order that have been efficiently protecting our air terminal,” they concluded.
On social networks, there were many complaints from passengers, many of them foreigners, who were stranded when flights were suspended for the second time in a month. Cusco airport is the second busiest airport in Peru as it is the gateway to the country’s main tourist attraction, Machu Picchu.
