"The progress of this project and the fact that this mega-project will soon be completed facilitates the efforts to ensure that new airlines arrive in Peru. This process is led by the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism," she told Andina News Agency.
The SHP officer commented that negotiations are currently underway with several airlines to enter the Peruvian market, which, due to the nature of this process, takes time.
"There are commercial airlines with which memorandums of understanding have already been signed, including Qatar Airlines and British Airways, but we still don't know when they will arrive in Peru," she remarked.
Monsalve underlined that work with Asian airlines is now underway.
"It is a market that is very interested in Peru. In this case, China and South Korea stand out," she noted.
Connections
Furthermore, the SHP representative explained that due to its geographic location, Jorge Chavez International Airport is considered a hub for international commercial airlines.
"You can't imagine the number of flights that arrive at the airport just to refuel and make connections," she said.
In this regard, Monsalve mentioned that strategies called "stopover" are being worked on for those tourists who have to make connections that will take them eight or ten hours.
"The idea is that they can leave the airport, enjoy the city, and return. The other possibility would be for them to stay two days in Lima and take their connecting flight without incurring an additional charge," she remarked.
The SHP officer explained that implementing this strategy will contribute to increasing the tourist flows to Peru and, therefore, elevating visitor numbers and hotel occupancy rates.
"At the moment, Peru has the lowest hotel occupancy rate in the region, as it has not yet recovered to pre-pandemic levels despite the many tourist attractions the country hosts," she said.
The new Jorge Chavez International Airport, located in Callao region, will be the first airport city in South America. This concept is being developed at airports in European cities such as Zurich, Paris, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, among others.
The objective of this new project is to position Peru not only as a hub or connection center in South America, but as an international business platform that will attract economic development to Peru.
The airport city features a passenger terminal, two runways, and a new control tower. It also includes two 3- and 5-star hotel buildings, a cargo area, a logistics park, a fuel plant that will triple its current capacity, and a parking area.