Last week Panama’s President José Raúl Mulino announced the publication of the new tender for the restoration and maintenance of the runways at Tocumen Airport, Panama City’s International Airport. The project is considered urgent due to the advanced deterioration of the runways. The reference price of the project is USD 52.4 million USD.
The new tender follows after the cancellation of a previous tender for these works at the end of last year. Inconsistencies in the specifications and a lack of specialized technical profiles were some of the key factors that led to the cancellation of the contract.
The overall scope of the tender project is the study, design and rehabilitation of the runways (03L-21R and 03R-21L) and taxiways at Tocumen International Airport, as well as the maintenance of the runways for a period of two (2) years following the completion of the rehabilitation.
Tocumen International Airport
With over 90 destinations and 70% transit passengers, Tocumen Airport is a key regional hub for travel & cargo between North America, South America & the Caribbean. In 2024 Tocumen handled a record total of 19,250,384 passengers and 16,653 metric tons of cargo, respectively 8% and 4% more than the previous year. The airports infrastructure handled 152,813 air operations in 2024 (+7%), which comes down to 420 air operations a day. It is the home base of Copa Airlines and the airport has direct connections to Europe with AirFrance-KLM to Amsterdam & Paris and Iberia and Air Europe to Madrid.
The airport has two runways, and a third is planned for construction. One of the runways (03L-21R) received maintenance in 2016, and the tread layer in its center strip has begun to show signs of deterioration. The other runway (03R-21L) which is in the worst state, was built in 1978 and has not received any maintenance or major pavement work to date.
At least 27 national and international consultancy, engineering and infrastructure firms have already expressed interest in the tender. The deadline for proposals is 23 April at 10 a.m.
Text of the tender for the study, design, rehabilitation and maintenance of runways and taxiways at Tocumen International Airport – 2025-2-02-0-08-LV-011990 (Panama Compra)