Quito International Airport reports that the year got off to a flying start with a strong Valentine’s season. Valentine’s Day is the first of the high export seasons for one of Ecuador’s main air cargo exports, flowers.
In total, 20,112 metric tonnes of flowers were sent to the world in the 23 days of this year’s high season. Quiport says it demonstrates the great performance of the entire logistics chain of the airport: cargo consolidation in the Tabacarcen logistics centre, palletising in the export cargo terminal and finally the boarding in each of the aircraft that arrived at the cargo platform.
“This achievement is all the more commendable because we were still in the midst of a battle with the omicron variant and, despite all the adversities that this strain brought, we achieved this great milestone,” said Ramón Miró, president and CEO of Corporación Quiport.
The volume exported in this high season is the highest achieved at the Quito airport since its opening in February 2013, exceeding the 19,177 metric tonnes reached in 2020, the second-best year of Valentine’s Day exports.
Following the global trend, the Ecuadorian air cargo market is performing well. In 2021, the total air cargo at Quito’s Mariscal Sucre International Airport exceeded the historical record in terms of annual transported volume, with 272,700 metric tonnes that include exports, imports, and domestic cargo. Cargo performance in 2021 exceeded the record for 2019, the second-best year, by 15.8%; in that year the total volume was 235,500 thousand metric tonnes.
Ramón Miró highlighted the importance of teamwork among all the actors involved in air cargo logistics: “I want to congratulate and thank Tabacarcen, cargo agencies, palletisers, airlines, ground service companies and all the operators that provide services associated with cargo at the Quito airport. A very successful season has been managed despite all the difficulties, guaranteeing proper management of the cold chain, and preserving the quality of our export flowers so that they can reach their destination in optimal conditions.”
Quiport’s main executive gave special recognition to the airlines, which made an exceptional effort to find a way to provide the necessary air capacity to serve the market at this important time, despite the great limitations caused by the pandemic and that they are still in a recovery process.
The cargo operation of the Mariscal Sucre airport even motivated those responsible for the Juan Santamaría Airport in San José, Costa Rica, to send a delegation to Quito on February 10 to learn more about the air cargo management model to learn about best practices and implement them at their airport.
The Airport says that efficiency in cargo handling and infrastructure have placed Mariscal Sucre International Airport as one of the most important cargo terminals in Latin America and an example to follow.
