Seymour Galapagos Ecological Airport guide

Seymour Galapagos Ecological Airport sits on Baltra, a small island north of Santa Cruz in the Galapagos archipelago. It is one of two commercial gateways to the islands, and every visitor arriving here pays the national park entry fee and passes a biosecurity inspection before leaving the terminal.

The airfield began as a United States Army Air Forces base in 1942, built to guard the Panama Canal and the South American coast. Ecuador received the facilities after the war, and the Ecuadorian Air Force still maintains a base here. A modernization programme ran from 2011 to 2013 and produced the current terminal, which covers about 6,000 square meters and is built partly from recycled steel pipe. ECOGAL, a subsidiary of Corporacion America, operates it under a 15-year concession. The airport holds LEED Gold certification.

The single asphalt runway, 14/32, is 2,401 meters long. Flights come from Quito and Guayaquil on the mainland, with Avianca and LATAM as the carriers. Baltra has no town. Passengers take a short bus ride to the Itabaca Channel, cross to Santa Cruz by ferry, and continue by road to Puerto Ayora.