Lima airport’s expansion was long overdue. The old terminal was operating at up to 50% beyond its planned capacity. After many years of delays, the new passenger terminal fully began operations on June 1st. I was fortunate to be able to fly on its first day of operations unintendedly.
The new terminal is able to handle up to 30 million passengers and is said to be three times the size of the old one. It was built directly opposite to the old one with runway 16L in between the two. This means that access to the airport has changed. While the old airport was accessed by Faucett avenue, the new terminal is accessed by the adjacent Morales Duarez avenue.
Access to the new passenger terminal has been on the public eye for the last few months. Perú’s transport ministry was supposed to deliver a highway connecting the costa Verde expressway with the new passenger terminal. However, with government processes being increasingly inefficient, this has not been delivered on time and apparently will only be ready in 2028.
Instead, they came with a widely criticized temporary measure to get to the new terminal. They installed two bailey bridges connecting Morales Duarez road with the new airort terminal. This logically created fears of congestion in getting in and out of the airport in a city where traffic is already a mess. Fortunately getting in and out of the airport hasn’t been that bad.
Day of travel:
Travelling on a Sunday evening meant that traffic was light so managed to get to the airport without any hustle.
Image courtesy of Perùretail.com
The check in area is now divided by “check in islands” ranging from A to F. Islands A and B are dedicated to LATAM while the rest is assigned to other airlines by the airport depending on their flight itineraries.
The check-in area was packed, I assume because being the first day of operation lots of non-flyers came to have a look at the new terminal.
I was able to check in at LATAM’s premium check in section welcoming those travelling in Premium Business and Premium Economy cabins as well as LATAMPASS Gold and Platinum members. LATAM’s top tier elites (Black and Black Signature members) can check-in in a dedicated section located right beside.
Once I checked my bag in, I proceeded to clear security and immigration. Security was done quickly as there is no need to take out liquids or electronics.
Immigration was quick as well, however there have been complaints of long lines during peak hours. There are now more e-gates available for Peruvians, however for some reason they make you fill out a “pre-register” form that you must fill out before using them. You can do this online or at one of the quiosks at the airport. It’s not a huge deal, but I find absurd and inefficient that they make you do this since the airline already sends authorities all the information they need. In fact this further congests the area as people who did not fill this out in advance then just queue at the manned immigration desks instead.
Once airside you are greeted with the central area hosting the duty-free shops as well as the food court.
They’ve done a nice job with food options in the terminal, offering a well selected glimpse of peruvian cuisine. There’s a selection of high quality peruvian chains such as Burger Boy, Tori (pollo a la brasa), La Lucha (Peruvian sandwich shop), Los Reyes (the airport version of Isolina, a traditional restaurant), La Bonbonniere and KO Asian Kitchen (Sushi place).
I grabbed a very nice burger with no chips or drink for US$9. Prices are a bit on the higher range but guess that tends to be the case with most airports these days.
Gates at the new terminal are divided into four wings. Wing A handles purely domestic flights. Piers B and C can handle both domestic and international flights depending on peaks for each type of operation. Wing D on the other hand handles purely international flights.
Since I had a few hours to kill I headed up to the lounge. LATAM’s lounge is not ready yet, so I headed to The Club At LIM, which accepts Priority Pass. There was a bit of a queue to get in, but since I was by myself I was let through almost immediately.
The lounge is 1400 sqm large so there is plenty of space. There were different seating areas, two food buffets a manned bar, as well as workstations and a rest area.
Food options were average, but that’s to be expected from a Priority Pass lounge these days. There was pasta, some chicken dish, salads and some meat and cheeses. Later they brought out small portions of more elaborate dishes already plated.
The bar was apparently very well stocked and unlike in the old terminal, there is no limits in the number of drinks you can have. There is a comprehensive cocktail menu, however I didn’t try them out.
I did have a couple of glasses of a nice Chilean carmenere. Wine is available at the food buffet as well.
Being very tired after a long day of work, I proceeded to one of the napping pods to take a nap for a couple of hours before it was time to board my flight.
I left the lounge a bit early to have a wonder around the gate areas. My flight was leaving from gate D3 which was about a five-minute walk from the lounge.
The gate area does seem more basic. There is not a lot of natural light, seats are a bit scares and there are no power outlets.
Conclusion
I found LIM`s new terminal to work relatively well during the first day of operations. In no doubt the new terminal is bigger, more modern and will facilitate operations. It might not be architecturally appealing, but is functional and serves its purpose.