Sucre, Bolivia. High Altitude Difficult Airport (Now Closed)

[JustPlanes]

[sn26567]

Is it really closed? I landed there in November 2015 (in a BoA 737-400)

[jan_olieslagers]

How can an airport be called "difficult" if even a B737 can operate there?

[sn26567]

How can an airport be called "difficult" if even a B737 can operate there?

Because of the thin air at high altitude?

[jan_olieslagers]

Difficult aerodromes are barely accessible to DHC6 and PC6 and that kind of plane. This Sucre field must be a walk in the park to those. Then again, there are fields where only a Maule or Super Cub will go - searching the www for "alaska bush flying" or such will turn up several.

To an able pilot with a suitable plane, I cannot see anything difficult about this Sucre field. Not that I would fly there: my humble craft does not have a turbo so it could never get that high.

[galaxy]

How can an airport be called "difficult" if even a B737 can operate there?

Because of the thin air at high altitude?

'Juana Azurduy de Padilla International Airport (ICAO: SLSU) was an airport serving Sucre, Bolivia, the nation's constitutional capital city. It has officially closed and been replaced by the Alcantari Airport.
The only runway at Juana Azurduy de Padilla was 9,400 feet (2,900 m) in length, and at an altitude of 9,528 feet (2,904 m). Because of this high altitude, many people who arrived at Sucre via rapid air travel get altitude sickness. The altitude also caused the airport to be excessively cloudy at times, making approach difficult.
[/b]As with many in Latin America, Juana Azurduy de Padilla International Airport was not open 24 hours a day. It was only open from sunrise to sunset.
Though Sucre is Bolivia's constitutional (de jure) capital city, Juana Azurduy de Padilla International Airport was not the largest airport in the country. The largest airport is Viru Viru in Santa Cruz de la Sierra.
The airport was named after Juana Azurduy de Padilla, who fought for the independence against Spain.
On May 15, 2016, after 41 years of service, the Juana Azurduy de Padilla International Airport closed, and all its operations moved to Alcantari Airport.'
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juana_Azu ... al_Airport

[JustPlanes]

How can an airport be called "difficult" if even a B737 can operate there?

Difficult really has nothing to do with the size of the planes that land there...
Kai Tak wasn't exactly an easy airport and yet 747s and Concorde landed there...
Anyway I did not make it up.... as you can see its listed as difficult by Wiki and the Captain on that flight also explained why it wasn't an easy airport and how sometimes they just could not land there... but you can see that in the video...the weather approaching is not great, there are mountains all around, the runway is kind of narrow and to top all that you're landing at an altitude of 10,000 feet...