Teniente Ramon A. Ayub Gonzalez Airport () is an international airport serving Encarnación, capital of the

Itapúa Department Itapúa () is a department in the southern region of Paraguay. The capital is the city of Encarnación. It is divided into 30 districts, more than any other department in the country. History This department was created after the breakup of the ...

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

. It is located in the Capitan Miranda district, around 14 km north of the center of Encarnación.

History

The airport belongs to the Municipality of Encarnación, and was constructed nearby the Yacyretá Dam. Initially, projects were planned for flights to

Asunción Asunción (, ) is the capital and the largest city of Paraguay. The city stands on the eastern bank of the Paraguay River, almost at the confluence of this river with the Pilcomayo River. The Paraguay River and the Bay of Asunción in the north ...

and

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

2010s

The airport was habilitated in 2013. On 4 January 2013, it was reported that the first commercial flight would arrive at Encarnación on 15 January from Resistencia, Argentina. On 6 January 2013, ABC reports that the Intendent of Encarnación, Juan Smalko, informs of the habilitation of Encarnación's Airport to operate national and international flights. The habilitation serves for small air planes, which can be private or public. Juan Smalko informs that the airport operates flight during the day time but would soon be implementing a regular line of flights, with an Argentine airline. On 15 January 2013, it is said that the route from Asunción to Encarnación will become the second domestic route to operate regularly in Paraguay, in addition to the Asunción-Ciudad del Este route which is operate by TAM Mercosur. On 19 January 2013, it is reported that the first international flight descends at Encarnación's Airport, arriving from Bahia, Brazil.

TAGUA ''Phytelephas'' is a genus containing six known species of dioecious palms (family Arecaceae), occurring from southern Panama along the Andes to Ecuador, Bolivia, Colombia, northwestern Brazil, and Peru. They are commonly known as ivory palms, ...

operated to Asunción's Silvio Pettirossi Airport as of 10 November 2014. On 12 January 2016 the airport was officially habilitated for night flights by DINAC, after a system of runway lights had been installed.

2020s

In March 2020, the national authorities announced the expansion of the airport, including extending the runway to 500 metres. The airport continued operation during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

quarantine. In December 2020, the president of the DINAC planned to realize investments to better the airport's infrastructure. For 2020, it closed with a total of 1, 346 flights. In September 2024 the government again announced that they would invest 3.5 million dollars in improvements to the airport in the context of the 2025 World Rally Championship.

Statistics

As of 2013, the airport had an average of two to three flights per day.

Airlines and destinations

Normally this airport is served by Sol del Paraguay, an airline that flies almost daily flights to Asunción. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic the flights have been suspended for the time being.

References