Editing Tocumen International Airport (section)

==History==
{{more citations needed section|date=July 2016}}
During [[World War II]], Panamanian airports were leased exclusively by the [[United States Armed Forces|U.S. Armed Forces]]. The nearest airport to Tocumen was the ''Paitilla Point Airfield''. Several airports were built to protect the [[Panama Canal]] from foreign aggression. The [[37th Training Wing|37th Pursuit Group]] at [[Albrook Field]] replaced the [[P-40 Warhawk]]s of the [[28th Test Squadron|28th Pursuit Squadron]] at the Paitilla Point airbase from 9 December 1941 though 26 March 1942 in the immediate aftermath of the [[Pearl Harbor attack]].

Tocumen International Airport was inaugurated on June 1, 1947, by President [[Enrique Adolfo Jiménez]], and airport operations began before the construction works were completed. The administrative building/passenger terminal was inaugurated seven years later, during the administration of Colonel [[José Antonio Remón Cantera]]. The old airport building, which currently is being used as a cargo terminal, was built on an area of {{Convert|720|ha|abbr=on}} and was {{convert|126|ft|abbr=on}} above sea level. As time passed, and due to Panama's role as a country of transit, that terminal became too small to attend to the growing demand for air operations. These circumstances compelled the aeronautical authorities at the time to consider expanding the airport. Work on the new buildings began in 1971.

The bed of the Tocumen river was diverted to construct the new terminal building. 

The terminal opened on August 15, 1978, and operations began on September 5. The Tocumen International Airport is one of few airports in the region that has two landing runways able to serve the largest commercial aircraft operating today.
The name of the airport was changed in 1981 by the military government to Omar Torrijos International Airport, in honor of the [[Omar Torrijos|Panamanian leader]] who died on July 31, 1981. 

After nine years, the original name was reestablished after the fall of the dictatorship of Panama by the [[United States invasion of Panama|U.S. invasion of 1989]], when the airport was seized by [[82nd Airborne Division]] paratroopers.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Henriksen|first=Thomas H.|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/9781009053242/type/book|title=America's Wars: Interventions, Regime Change, and Insurgencies after the Cold War|date=2022-01-31|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-009-05324-2|edition=1|doi=10.1017/9781009053242.002|s2cid=113329937}}</ref>
The original runway (03L/21R) is mainly used for cargo and private flights, but also as a supplement to the primary runway during peak traffic periods. The main runway (03R/21L) is {{Convert|3050|x|45|m|abbr=on|0}} and is used primarily for commercial flights, the 03R direction is [[Instrument Landing System|ILS]] Cat. I enabled. Until May 31, 2003, Tocumen International Airport was managed by the Civil Aeronautics Directorate (which is known today as the Civil Aeronautics Authority). On June 1 of that year, an innovative terminal management platform was created through Law No. 23 of January 29, 2003, which set out a regulatory framework for the management of airports and landing strips in Panama. This law allowed the creation of Aeropuerto Internacional de Tocumen, S.A., also referred to as Tocumen, S.A., which currently manages the terminal. This law is one of a number of laws that restructured the aeronautical sector in Panama to further its improvement and modernization.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tocumenpanama.aero/index.php?cccpage=historia |title= History of Tocumen Airport|publisher= Tocumen Airport Panama |date=2010-08-01 |access-date=2010-08-01}}</ref>

In August 2015, it was announced that [[Emirates (airline)|Emirates]] would operate flights to Tocumen International Airport from [[Dubai International Airport|Dubai]] starting February 2016, at which point it would have become the world's longest [[non-stop flight]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Thompson |first1=Chuck |title=World's longest nonstop flight announced |url=https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/emirates-longest-flight/index.html |access-date=2015-08-14 |publisher=[[CNN]] |date=2015-08-14}}</ref> In January 2016, the route was delayed due to a lack of economic opportunities for the flight. It has not yet been announced when the flight will begin regularly scheduled operations.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.emirates.com/english/destinations/flights-to-north-south-america/flights--panama/flights-to-panama-city.aspx |title= Flights to Panama City|publisher= Emirates |date= 2016-01-12 |access-date= 2016-01-12}}</ref> It was planned to make the route between Tocumen International Airport and [[Dubai International Airport|Dubai]] the [[Longest flights|longest flight in the world]], until Emirates started flying between Dubai and [[Auckland Airport|Auckland]].

On 16 March 2023, [[Aeropuerto metro station]] of [[Panama Metro]] was open in the airport.<ref name="urbanrail">{{cite web |last1=Schwandl |first1=Robert |title=Panamá |url=http://www.urbanrail.net/am/pana/panama.htm |publisher=urbanrail}}</ref>