Tocumen International Airport

Tocumen International Airport was first inaugurated in June 1947. The first airport is currently used as a cargo terminal, since in 1971 the aeronautical authorities of the time decided to develop what we know today as Tocumen International Airport. The current passenger terminal was inaugurated back in 1978.

The Tocumen airport is one of the few in the region that has two landing runways able to serve the largest commercial aircraft operating today.

Tocumen International Airport is currently under expansion. The first phase is the expansion of the passenger terminal. It took three years and US$ 85 millions. The next phase is to update equipment such as boarding bridges, escalators, baggage processing systems, flight control systems among others. The last phase will be the upgrading of runways and rebuilding of the cargo terminal.

Tocumen International Airport is the regional hub  for several commercial and cargo airlines. It connects passengers to more than 36 countries and 85 direct destinations all around world.

In 2022, Tocumen International Airport won as the “Best airport” in Central America and the Caribbean by Skytrax awards. Likewise, Tocumen International Airport ranked 2nd in On-Time Performance (OTP) of medium sized airports category according to OAG 2023.

Tocumen International is located 24km east of Panama City. The two main roads that connect the City to Tocumen are the Domingo Diaz Avenue and the South Corridor. The areas surrounding the Airport have become very important industrial areas. Many companies are considering moving their warehouses and distribution centers near the airport in order to take full advantage of its connectivity close to logistics parks.

Passenger Movement Statistics

Tocumen International Airport closed 2023 with a total of 18,026,533 million passengers. The following data includes domestic and international passengers.

Source: Tocumen International Airport

Cargo Movement Statistics

In 2023, 208,574 tons of cargo and mail were moved, depending on the type of aircraft service. The largest volume was moved by the airlines dedicated only to cargo transportation.

Source: Tocumen International Airport

The new building of passenger terminal “T2” has an approximate area of 116,000 square meters. T2 have 20 boarding gates and 8 remote positions, allowing serving more than 24 million passengers between terminal 1 and 2.

This building can withstand earthquakes up to 8.0 on the Richter scale and will have special facilities and systems of latest technology as the use of optical fiber, an integrated luggage system between terminals 1 and 2, with capacity to process 7,200 suitcases per hour.

The roof of the T2 have skylights that provide overhead lighting to the interior environment and allow the entry of natural light and in conjunction with the LED lighting system, will seek to optimize the use of energy and to preserve the environment.

The parking lots, located in front of the T2, have a capacity of more than 1,200 spaces and a free cellphone lot waiting area.

Source: Courtesy AITSA

At the Tocumen International Airport is being developed a multimodal air cargo hub with a large capacity. This new Multimodal Zone will be composed of a Cargo Terminal and a Logistics Zone and will complement and make more competitive the logistics cluster of the country with a wide range of services and will offer an integral solution for foreign trade.

This area will be dedicated to aeronautical operations, essential to the activities related to the business of air cargo. It contemplates the modernization of the current platform, as well as the increase in the capacity of parkings, security and lighting focused on providing the best and most reliable area for the development of logistics operations.

First Free Zone Airport of the region, covered under the Free Zone regime (Law 32 of 2011) which allows offering its users tax, migratory and labor benefits. It will have a total area of 35 hectares and 15 hectares in its first phase. It will facilitate the activities of added value, strengthening the competitiveness of the logistics companies.