Skip to main content

Chile finally launches Santiago's airport tender

Chile's public works ministry MOP has launched a long-delayed tender to expand and operate Santiago's international airport, the first big project to be awarded under President Michelle Bachelet's administration. The US$655 million project entails the construction of a 200,000 sq m terminal with two wings exclusively for international flights and two additional wings that will alternate between international and domestic flights. The tender was initially expected to be launched last year, under former
June 24, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
Chile's public works ministry 7820 MOP has launched a long-delayed tender to expand and operate Santiago's international airport, the first big project to be awarded under President Michelle Bachelet's administration.

The US$655 million project entails the construction of a 200,000 sq m terminal with two wings exclusively for international flights and two additional wings that will alternate between international and domestic flights.

The tender was initially expected to be launched last year, under former President Sebastián Piñera's administration, but disputes between MOP and aviation authorities delayed the project. It suffered further delays when Bachelet took office as the new administration changed tender rules to allow more companies to bid in the process.

The airport expansion aims to serve 29 million passengers by 2030 and 50 million by 2045. Santiago accounts for nearly 70 per cent of Chile's airport passenger traffic. Passenger traffic is estimated to grow between five and nine per cent in the next four years to break the 20 million mark in 2018.

Companies reportedly interested in bidding include French airport operator Aéroports de Paris, Germany's Flughafen München and Fraport, Mexican airport operator GAP, Argentina's Corporación América and Colombian firm Opain, concessionaire of Bogotá's El Dorado international airport.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • South America turns on to Q-Free toll tag technology
    March 1, 2013
    Norwegian toll technology provider Q-Free has secured two new contracts worth a combined US$7.5m to supply toll tags to toll concessionaires in Chile and Brazil.Vespucio Norte Express in Chile has placed a US$3.4m order for the firm’s OBU610 toll tags, with delivery to start this May. Q-Free is also to supply tags to the value of US$4.1m to Centro Gestao Meios de Pagto (CGMP) in Brazil. One of the first urban concessionaires in Santiago, Vespucio Norte Express is one of the most modern road connections worl
  • Atkins to aid transformation of Colorado’s transportation system
    June 27, 2016
    UK-based design, engineering and project management consultancy Atkins is to assist the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) in transforming the state’s aging transportation system into one of the safest and most reliable in the US. CDOT has selected the company to provide program support for the RoadX Program, its commitment to rapid and aggressive implementation of innovative technology to revolutionise the state’s transportation system within the next ten years. CDOT is investing US$20 m
  • Washington, DC, tops list of gridlocked US cities
    August 26, 2015
    The 2015 urban mobility scorecard for the US, published jointly by the Texas A&M Transportation Institute and Inrix, indicates that urban areas of all sizes are experiencing the challenges seen in the early 2000s and population, jobs and therefore congestion are increasing. The US economy has regained nearly all of the nine million jobs lost during the recession and the total congestion problem is larger than the pre-recession levels. Cities of all sizes are experiencing the challenges last seen before t
  • Programming a smoother commute
    January 18, 2013
    Work being carried out by the University of Toronto’s Intelligent Transportation Systems Centre could have a beneficial effect on the city’s congestion problems. Says Professor Baher Abdulhai of the Centre, "Everybody realises that we have a big congestion problem in Toronto and the scarier part is that it's getting worse, exponentially." One of the solutions he's working on is smarter traffic lights using artificial intelligence to control the flow of traffic. "Each traffic light would learn how to time i