The country is fine-tuning a strategy to expand its airport infrastructure in order to deal with rapidly increasing passenger traffic, a plan that includes renewing the concessions for several airports and modernizing secondary domestic terminals. During a conference held at the Engineers' Guild in Santiago, Claudia Carvallo, advisor to the Public Works Ministry's (MOP) Airport Division, said the Government plans to tender studies to determine the infrastructure shortfalls in the airport network. The first of the studies will cover the airports of the central-south zone (Los Ángeles, Chillán, Pucón, Valdivia, Araucanía, and Concepción). "The idea behind these studies is to detect infrastructure deficits for commercial operations, as there aren't commercial operations at Los Ángeles, Chillán, and Pucón, but these are destinations that low-cost airlines are interested in," Carvallo said. Another part of the plan is the development of airport masterplans. The official said that the drawing up of these plans will also be tendered by zones, with the first bidding process starting by year-end 2018. On concessions, the Government is looking to jumpstart public-private alliances and that, for the first time in Chile, authorities are mulling tendering concession packages that would include more than one airport, according to Carvallo. MOP is looking at tendering the concessions for the Carlos Ibáñez del Campo (Magallanes region) and Balmaceda (Aysén region) airports as one contract. Carvallo also unveiled the long-term plan for the airports that currently operate under concessions, with the exception of Calama's El Loa which was not mentioned:

● Chacalluta (Arica and Parinacota) - Second concession to be tendered shortly with a budge of USD 99 million. Works under the new concession include: Expansion of the airport to 10,000 m². Expansion of the aircraft parking space. Expansion of the parking lot. New aeronautic complex. Works expected to begin in 2020.

● Iquique's Diego Aracena (Tarapacá) - fourth concession awarded in 2017 to Aport with a budget of USD 60 million. Works under the new concession: Expansion of the terminal to 20,000 m². Adding 3,000 m² of aeronautic installations.

● Andrés Savella airport (Antofagasta) - Expansion of the runway to be executed by MOP instead of the concessionaire Aport which is developing a real-estate project in the area of the concession. It entails the construction of several installations to give logistical support to the airport. The works will be financed by the concessionaire in exchange of a small extension of its contract. Installations include a new cargo area and a bus terminal.

● Copiapó's Desierto de Atacama (Atacama) - Preliminary project for the second concession to be tendered at the end of 2018. This draft will serve as reference for the upcoming concession tender.

● La Serena (Coquimbo) - New concession to be tendered in 2019. MOP ruled out a project to build a new terminal at Tongoy. Carvallo said "both projects are profitable but [the new La Serena concession] is more profitable." Works under new concession: Expansion of the terminal to 10,000 m².

● Santiago's Arturo Merino Benitez (Metropolitana) - Concession awarded in 2015 to consortium Nuevo Pudahuel with a budget of USD 650 million. Works in progress on a new 157,000 m² international passenger terminal. Expansion of the existing terminal by 9,000 m². Expandiing the parking lot. Addition of five boarding bridges. Carvallo added that the concession has an ‘investment trigger’ in case of the need for further expansions. To that end, MOP is seeking to expropriate 640 hectares of land.

● Concepción's Carriel Sur (Biobío) - Second concession awarded in 2016 to a consortium made of Icafal Construcciones and Icafal Inversiones, S.A., a Chilean investment firm that owns and manages companies operating in different sectors, such as public and private sanitation, railway, agribusiness, and transportation. The budget is USD 36 million - Works in progress: Expansion of airport surface area to 12,000 m². Works expected to finish in 2019.

● Puerto Montt's El Tepual (Los Lagos) - Fourth concession awarded in February 2018 to a consortium made of Sacyr and Agunsa with a budget of USD 35 million. #1088.1