La Chinita International Airport

La Chinita International Airport (IATA: MAR, ICAO: SVMC) is an airport serving Maracaibo, the capital of Zulia. It is located southwest of Maracaibo proper in the municipality of San Francisco. La Chinita is Venezuela's second most important airport in terms of passenger and aircraft movements, after Simón Bolívar International Airport near Caracas.

La Chinita International Airport Aeropuerto Internacional La Chinita
IATA: MAR ICAO: SVMC
Summary
Airport type	Military/Public
Operator	Government
Location	San Francisco, Zulia
Elevation AMSL	235 ft / 72 m
Coordinates	10°33′30″N 71°43′40″W
Map
MAR Location of the airport in Venezuela
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 03L/21R 3,000 9,843 concrete 03R/21L 2,500 8,202 Asphalt
Statistics (2008)
Passenger movements 2,848,677
Sources:,[1] WAD,[2] Google Maps[3]

History

The airport opened on 16 November 1969, during the administration of President of Venezuela Rafael Caldera, to open a gateway to the western part of the country and to alleviate congestion from Simón Bolívar International Airport, which manages about half of the international flights in Venezuela. The earlier airport was Grano de Oro (1960 diagram)

Facilities

Runway 03L/21R length does not include a 300 metres (980 ft) paved overrun on the north end. The Maracaibo VORTAC (Ident: MAR) is located 0.81 nautical miles (1.50 km) northeast of the threshold of Runway 21R.[4]

Airlines and destinations

Airlines	Destinations
Avior Airlines	Bogotá, Caracas
Conviasa	Caracas, Porlamar
Copa Airlines	Panama City–Tocumen
Estelar Latinoamerica	Caracas
LASER Airlines	Caracas
Turpial Airlines	Valencia (VE)
Venezolana	Caracas, Panama City–Tocumen

Accidents and incidents

• On 1 November 1971, Vickers Viscount YV-C-AMZ of Linea Aeropostal Venezolana crashed shortly after take-off. All four people on board were killed.[5]

See also

• Transport in Venezuela
• List of airports in Venezuela

External links

• Airport information for MAR at Great Circle Mapper.
• SkyVector - La Chinita
• OurAirports - La Chinita
• OpenStreetMap - La Chinita
• Airport information for SVMC at World Aero Data. Data current as of October 2006.

References

1. Dirección de Operaciones
2. World Data Aero
3. Google Maps - La Chinita
4. MAR VOR
5. "Accident description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 8 October 2009.