Airline-development officials with the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority say they continue to work toward obtaining nonstop service between Washington Dulles International Airport and Lima, Peru.
“It is a top focus,” said Paul Bobson, the authority’s vice president of airline business development, during questioning at the body’s board of directors meeting May 15.
The query was brought up by Walter Tejada, a Virginia appointee to the authority board and a leading advocate for increased service to Latin America.
Bobson acknowledged that, in terms of passenger totals (although not total passenger revenue), Lima is the largest city in the region not having nonstop service to Dulles.
“I’ll keep my fingers crossed,” Tejada said of future service.
Currently, the fastest way to get between the local area and Lima’s Jorge Chavez International Airport is on Copa Airlines (from Dulles via Panama City, Panama); American Airlines (from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport via Miami); and Delta Air Lines (from National via Atlanta). All clock in at between 9.5 and 10 hours of travel time, including connections of approximately an hour at intermediate points.
Founded in 1535, Lima has a metropolitan area of about 10 million people, about twice the population of the D.C. region.
