1981: An Argentine Airport is Finally Opened after a Major Earthquake Had Delayed Its Construction

February 25, 1981

An airport in western Argentina’s San Juan Province was officially opened. This airport was named after Domingo Faustino Sarmiento (1811-1888), a statesman and prolific writer who served as president of Argentina from 1868 to 1874. (The airport is not the only part of Argentina’s wide-ranging transportation network that bears his name; one of the country’s inter-city commuter transit lines is formally known as the Domingo Faustino Sarmiento Railway.)

Construction on Domingo Faustino Sarmiento Airport, which is also widely called San Juan Airport, began in 1971. An unexpected delay in completing this project took place after a major earthquake hit that region of Argentina on the morning of November 23, 1977.

At least 65 people were killed as a result of this earthquake, which measured 7.5 on the moment magnitude scale. In addition, the earthquake significantly damaged the still-unfinished airport and numerous other structures throughout the province. Construction on the airport resumed shortly thereafter and those efforts included reparative work on what had been shattered by the earthquake.

Domingo Faustino Sarmiento Airport is operated by the Buenos Aires-based company Aeropuertos Argentina 2000. The airlines serving this airport are Aerolíneas Argentinas and Flybondi. (The attached photo showing part of the entry to the grounds of the airport was taken in 2011.)  

Photo Credit: Gonce ( https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Gonce) – licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

For more information on Domingo Faustino Sarmiento Airport (San Juan Airport), please check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domingo_Faustino_Sarmiento_Airport

Additional information on airports in Argentina is available at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_airports_in_Argentina