Juana Azurduy de Padilla International Airport is an

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...

located in

Sucre Sucre () is the capital of Bolivia, the capital of the Chuquisaca Department and the 6th most populated city in Bolivia. Located in the south-central part of the country, Sucre lies at an elevation of . This relatively high altitude gives the ...

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

, the nation's

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these pr ...

capital city A capital city or capital is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state, province, department, or other subnational entity, usually as its seat of the government. A capital is typically a city that physically encompasses t ...

. It is currently a base of the

Bolivian Air Force The Bolivian Air Force ( es, Fuerza Aérea Boliviana or 'FAB') is the air force of Bolivia and branch of the Bolivian Armed Forces. History By 1938 the Bolivian air force consisted of about 60 aircraft (Curtiss Hawk fighters, Curtiss T-32 Co ...

and was formerly Sucre's main commercial airport until it was replaced by the

Alcantarí Airport Alcantarí International Airport is an airport that serves Sucre, Bolivia, the nation's constitutional capital city. It is in the Yamparáez municipality. The airport was inaugurated on May 15, 2016, after because of the old Sucre Airport bei ...

. The only

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt, concrete ...

at Juana Azurduy de Padilla is in length, and at an altitude of . Because of this high altitude, many people who arrived at Sucre via rapid air travel get

altitude sickness Altitude sickness, the mildest form being acute mountain sickness (AMS), is the harmful effect of high altitude, caused by rapid exposure to low amounts of oxygen at high elevation. People can respond to high altitude in different ways. Sympt ...

. The altitude also caused the airport to be excessively cloudy at times, making approach difficult. As with many in Latin America, Juana Azurduy de Padilla International Airport was not open 24 hours a day. It was only open from sunrise to sunset. Though Sucre is Bolivia's constitutional (de jure) capital city, Juana Azurduy de Padilla International Airport was not the largest airport in the country. The largest airport is Viru Viru in

Santa Cruz de la Sierra Santa Cruz de la Sierra (; "Holy Cross of the Mountain Range"), commonly known as Santa Cruz, is the largest city in Bolivia and the capital of the Santa Cruz department. Situated on the Pirai River in the eastern Tropical Lowlands of Bolivia ...

. The airport was named after

Juana Azurduy de Padilla Juana Azurduy de Padilla (July 12, 1780 – May 25, 1862) was a guerrilla military leader from Chuquisaca, Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata (now Sucre, Bolivia).Pallis, Michael “Slaves of Slaves: The Challenge of Latin American Women” (Lon ...

, who fought for the independence against Spain. On May 15, 2016, after 41 years of service, the Juana Azurduy de Padilla International Airport ended its commercial flight service, and all its operations moved to

. On 2017, the administration of the airport passed from AASANA to the military, turning the airport into an air force base.

References

Defunct airports Airports in Bolivia Airports in Chuquisaca Department {{Bolivia-airport-stub