Currently, the Tocumen airport operates around 400 daily flights to over 80 destinations in America, Europe and Asia, with movement higher than 15 million people that walk its hallways daily.
The new terminal will be capable of receiving 25 million people per year and has received the award for “Best Global Project” given by the Engineering News-Record (ENR) publication in the United States.
The Terminal 2 building was designed by the British architect Norman Foster and the Panamanian Ignacio Mallol. It hosts 116 thousand square meters. Access to the building will be through a 6 kilometer boulevard. The impressive aeronautical platform is composed of 245 thousand square meters, while the building has 20 boarding gates with four remote gates and a cover area of 50 thousand square meters.
The capacity of its Luggage System (BHS) will be of 7, 200 suitcases per hour, synchronized between the two terminals, while holding 86 check-in points and 60 immigration points. The second terminal started construction in 2013 and although it was inaugurated formally in April 2019, it is not yet fully functioning.
Expansion
Once the Terminal 2 is completely constructed, it will have 700 parking spots for cars. The capacity of Tocumen will go from having 34 to 54 boarding gates.
Average flights at the time of its inauguration in April were of 400 daily. With the incorporation of the second terminal, after completing a few adjustments, will allow the capacity to increase by 9 million additional passengers, which estimated will equal to 25 million passengers per year.
Amongst the four biggest
With this expansion, the Panama airport will place amongst the four biggest in Latin America and the biggest in Central America. The passenger capacity equals that of airports in cities such as Sao Paulo, Mexico DF and Bogota.
The cost of the building surpasses 900 million dollars. In critical times, it led to providing jobs for over 5, 500 persons. However, it is estimated that when it is functioning, it will be capable of employing around 9,000 people.
The award
The award that was received by the Terminal 2 in the Tocumen airport is the only one ENR has given for an infrastructure built in Latin America. The projects that received this award were 30.
Another Latin American project that received the ENR award was the United States Consulate in Laredo, Mexico under the Government Buildings category.
The awards in other categories were bestowed to buildings and projects in other latitudes.
