The Ministry of Public Works’ Airports Directorate has received technical proposals from five consulting firms — Arcadis Chile, FAIC, IDOM-Vidal, Ingeniería Cuatro-AYESA, and Wood Ingeniería y Consultoría Chile — to design the reference plan for a major expansion and improvement of Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport in Chile, which will form the basis for constructing a third passenger terminal, a third runway, and other key infrastructure to triple the airport’s capacity.

The upgrade of Santiago Airport will require its footprint to expand to over 2,300 hectares — roughly double its current area — along with the development of more than one million square meters of terminal facilities, enabling the airport to serve up to 84 million passengers per year and accommodate around 125 aircraft movements per hour. The consulting firm awarded the contract will be responsible for providing the basic design for all new airport facilities. The main structures under consideration include the construction of a third runway and a third passenger terminal, the relocation of the cargo terminal to a new area, the development of an internal transportation system between terminals, the expansion of the maintenance areas and the Civil Aviation Authority's facilities, the construction of three additional access roads, and the development of a network of green spaces to better integrate the airport with its urban surroundings.

This consultancy assignment will be carried out over five years and will cover the basic design of the proposed facilities. Once this preliminary reference project is completed, the process will move into detailed engineering and land acquisition (expropriation) stages, with the first construction works expected to begin in the mid-2030s. The infrastructure must be conceived and delivered under sustainability principles, incorporating Net Zero–oriented measures in energy use, carbon reduction, water and waste management, alongside energy-efficiency strategies, renewable energy integration, advanced water management, electromobility, circular economy practices, and readiness for the future use of sustainable aviation fuels and green hydrogen.