Aeropuerto General Ulpiano Páez
Aeropuerto General Ulpiano Páez is the airport of Salinas. It was rebuilt in 2014 but has had no scheduled passenger flights since 2018; the nearest airport with airline service is Guayaquil (GYE).
| At a glance | |
|---|---|
| Location | Salinas, Santa Elena Province |
| Opened | 1937, as a military air base |
| Rebuilt | 2014, USD 49 million (Ministry of Transport and Public Works) |
| Terminal | 1,800 m² |
| Operator | Dirección General de Aviación Civil (DGAC) |
| Scheduled flights | None since 2018 |
History
The airfield began in 1937 as a military air base. In 2014 the government rebuilt it with a new passenger terminal, control tower, technical block, fire-rescue hangar and safety strips. TAME, the state airline, then flew a Quito–Salinas route until the company closed; the route ended in 2018.
World War II: Base Gama
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Ecuador and the United States signed the Salinas Agreement on 24 January 1942. It let the United States build an air and seaplane base at Salinas — known as Base Gama — to help guard the Pacific approach to the Panama Canal. A second base, Base Beta, was built on Baltra in the Galápagos.
- What was built: runways, docks and warehouses, plus radio stations and submarine cables. The United States did not receive title to the land, and the buildings were to pass to Ecuador when the base closed.
- Who was here: fighter planes of the US Army Air Forces' Sixth Air Force (including P-40s of the 51st Fighter Squadron until March 1943), and US Navy seaplanes in the bay.
- Local impact: the Salinas council asked for rent, a desalination plant for drinking water, and new homes for families living in the cove, who were moved to Santa Rosa.
- The end: the Americans dismantled the base in January 1946 and handed the runway, land base and naval base to Ecuador's armed forces, without charge.
From 1946 to 1962 the runway served international flights, including Panagra, until Guayaquil's international airport took over.
Sources: El Litoral, "Base Gama, 1942"; Pacific Wrecks; US State Department, Foreign Relations of the United States 1945 vol. IX and 1946 vol. XI.
Today
The airport is used for Armed Forces training, a flight school and private aircraft. The Salinas development plan would like to see commercial flights return.
Getting to an airline airport
Travellers fly into Guayaquil's José Joaquín de Olmedo airport, about 2–2½ hours away by road. See Taxis and Taxi Apps and Terminal Terrestre Regional Sumpa (Santa Elena).
Sources: PDOT Salinas 2023–2027 (pp. 177, 198, 312).