Departure
95%
vs 95%
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Eloy Alfaro International Airport (SEMT/MEC) serves the coastal city of Manta in Manabí Province, Ecuador, as a joint civil-military aerodrome operated jointly with the Ecuadorian Air Force. It offers a single long hard-surfaced runway with ILS guidance, making it a straightforward and well-equipped destination for VFR or IFR flights along Ecuador's Pacific coast.
Eloy Alfaro International Airport lies on the Pacific coast near Manta, a city in Manabí Province, Ecuador, and is a joint-use civil and military airfield shared between commercial carriers and the Ecuadorian Air Force's Ala 23 "Eloy Alfaro" wing. It is named after Eloy Alfaro, a former president of Ecuador, and its dual military-civil character, long runway and coastal setting make it an interesting and useful waypoint for a sim pilot flying Ecuador's western seaboard.
The airfield sits on the Pacific coast close to the city of Manta, in Manabí Province, Ecuador, at coordinates 0.9456 S, 80.6783 W. As a joint civil-military facility it is used both by scheduled airline traffic and by Ecuadorian Air Force operations, and it was formerly host to a United States Forward Operating Location for counter-narcotics surveillance flights.
The airfield has a single physical runway, 06/24, oriented roughly northeast-southwest. Runway 06 is 10,047 feet long with a hard surface and runway lighting. Runway 24 is 9,533 feet long, also hard-surfaced and lit, and is equipped with an ILS approach. Field elevation is 43 feet.
Radio services are provided under the callsign Manta. Manta Approach operates on 122.7 MHz, ground movements are handled on 121.9 MHz, Manta Radio operates on 126.9 MHz, and Manta Tower transmits on 118.7 MHz. An ILS is available for runway 24.
The airfield was inaugurated by the Ecuadorian Air Force on 24 October 1978 and has operated ever since as a joint civil and military facility. From 1999 until July 2009 it hosted Forward Operating Location Manta, under a ten-year agreement between the United States and then-President Jamil Mahuad, allowing up to 475 US military personnel to be stationed there rent-free. USAF E-3 AWACS aircraft and US Navy P-3 Orions, supported by around 300 US personnel, flew counter-narcotics surveillance missions from the base, monitoring shipping and aircraft in the eastern Pacific and contributing to roughly 60 percent of US drug interdiction effort in the region; in 2007 alone these flights were linked to about 200 cocaine seizures totalling some 230 tons. Ecuador's government under President Rafael Correa declined to renew the lease, and Ecuador's Constituent Assembly voted in March 2008 to outlaw foreign military bases in the country. The US formally ended its access in 2009, flying its last anti-narcotics mission from Manta on 17 July 2009, after which US operations relocated toward Colombia.
Eloy Alfaro International Airport continues to operate as a joint civil and military airport and is described as the fourth-busiest airport in Ecuador. Scheduled airline services include Avianca Ecuador and LATAM Ecuador to Quito, and Copa Airlines to Panama City-Tocumen. The Ecuadorian Air Force maintains an active military presence at the field alongside civil operations.