Terminal
A single two-storey building holding both the international and domestic terminals — the layout IATA and ICAO consultants recommended when TAGSA rebuilt the airport in 2004–2006. It opened on 27 July 2006 at roughly 50,000 m², then grew to about 60,000 m² after a 2014 expansion of the domestic side. Eight stands with ten passenger jet bridges handle scheduled traffic, alongside eight remote cargo stands and seven general-aviation positions.
Self-service check-in kiosks and self-bag-drop machines sit in both the domestic and international departure halls to cut queues. The airport recommends reaching your airline’s check-in desk 2 hours before a domestic departure and 3 hours before an international one.
International pre-boarding opens 6 hours before scheduled departure, but only for passengers with a boarding pass and no bags to check — anyone earlier than that needs to clear it with the checkpoint. Carry-on liquids follow the standard 100 ml-per-container rule inside a single resealable 1-litre bag. Lithium power banks up to 100 Wh travel freely (max two per traveller), 101–160 Wh must be declared to the airline at check-in, and anything over 160 Wh cannot fly on a passenger aircraft at all.
GYE was Ecuador’s first airport to run the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower programme — a voluntary lanyard for non-visible disabilities, issued free at the information counters around the clock. Wheelchairs loan out at both information counters 24/7, a 24-hour nursing room seats two mothers at once in private cubicles, and staff trained in sign language work through the General Services department. Priority lines cut through Migration, security and Customs for reduced-mobility passengers, older travellers, pregnant women, anyone with an infant, and Sunflower lanyard holders.