Canadian-led partnership celebrates commencement of commercial flight operations

Commercial flight operations commenced this week at the state-of-the-art New Quito International Airport in Ecuador.

A Canadian-led initiative, the project has significant Canadian contributors including: Aecon as partner of both the construction joint venture and the concessionaire; Canadian Commercial Corporation as prime contractor; Export Development Canada as a lender; as well as MMM Group, a Canadian engineering and design firm.

“The Quito Airport project is illustrative of what Canadian firms bring to complex international construction projects: construction expertise, state-of-the-art architectural design and engineering, as well as the successful implementation of a public-private-partnership,” said John Beck, chairman and CEO of Aecon Group Inc. “This decade-long achievement wouldn’t have been possible without the successful partnership between Canada and Ecuador and it is a pleasure to celebrate this achievement with our Canadian and international partners and lenders, the Republic of Ecuador, and the Municipality of Quito.”

Aecon has built the greenfield airport as part of a 50/50 joint venture with Andrade Gutierrez Constructores S.A., a construction company based in Brazil. Work on the engineer/procure/construct contract involved all critical infrastructure for the airport including the passenger terminal, runways, control tower, ancillary buildings, as well as the supply and integration of the IT, navigation and security systems.

The airport has been constructed for Corporaciσn Quiport S.A. (Quiport), the concessionaire of the airport in which Aecon holds a 42.3 per cent economic stake.  Aecon’s partners in Quiport are: CCR S.A., Airport Development Corporation of Toronto and HAS Development Corporation of Houston, Texas (affiliated with the Houston Airport System). Senior lenders of the project are: US-based Overseas Private Investment Corporation, Export-Import Bank of the USA, the Inter-American Development Bank, as well as Export Development Canada.