Ecuador is undergoing a severe security crisis and governance issues, following the escape of the country’s most wanted drug trafficker, Adolfo Macías, and attacks by armed groups on public and private institutions. President Daniel Noboa declared a state of siege and internal armed conflict, and requested the support of the international community to confront the threat of organized crime.
While during this Tuesday flights in Ecuador operated without major inconveniences, as the conflict in the streets escalated, the country’s two main airports, Mariscal Sucre in Quito and José Joaquín de Olmedo in Guayaquil, announced extra security measures restricting access to the terminals to passengers, crowding of people in the vicinity and increased control over luggage, while some airlines canceled flights or applied containment measures to passengers in the face of possible disruptions.
LATAM, one of the two main airlines operating both domestic and international flights in Ecuador, informed through a statement that passengers who have flights between January 9 and 11, 2024, can access commercial flexibilities for changes of date or flight without penalty or fare difference, and even allowing refunds, for which they must call the contact center or enter Latam.com, in the My Trips section. Avianca has not yet responded to an inquiry about whether they will take a similar measure.
As of the time of publication of this article (7:30 PM Tuesday), the arrivals panel at the Guayaquil airport shows as canceled the arrivals of flights 1483 of American Airlines from Miami, 8371 and 8391 of Avianca (both from Bogotá), 1255 of JetBlue from Fort Lauderdale, 1769 of JetBlue from New York, and 1141 of Spirit Airlines from Fort Lauderdale.
At Quito airport, the arrivals of flights 152 of Copa Airlines from Panama and 2851 of JetBlue from Fort Lauderdale are listed as canceled. KLM delayed the departure of its KL751 flight to Amsterdam scheduled for today to Wednesday’s afternoon.
Despite this, at the moment the websites of the American airlines operating in Ecuador (American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Spirit Airlines, JetBlue Airways, and United Airlines) do not show any specific travel alert to the country.
Passengers who have flights scheduled within the curfew hours decreed by the Ecuadorian government (between 11:00 PM and 5:00 AM) can travel to and from the airports carrying an identity document and the flight ticket.
