All flights from Europe are directed to Tocumen International Airport via Frankfurt, Madrid or Amsterdam. The name of the airport was changed in 1981 by the military government to Omar Torrijos International Airport, in honor of the Panamanian leader who died on July 31, 1981, at the age of 52, in a plane crash in Cerro Marta, Coclesito, in very poor conditions. After nine years, the original name was re-established after the fall of the Panamanian dictatorship by the U. It was completed 7 years later during the presidency of José Antonio Remón Cantera, and later President Remón was assassinated at a racetrack in Panama City. The airport was renamed Tocumen again in the 90s, after the U.S.
invasion of Panama, which resulted in the arrest of General Manuel Noriega and the end of the dictatorship that ruled the country since October 1968. This law is one of the laws that restructured the aeronautical sector in Panama to promote its improvement and modernization. Over time, and due to Panama's role as a transit country, that terminal became too small to meet the growing demand for air operations. Until May 31, 2003, Tocumen International Airport was managed by the Civil Aeronautics Directorate (now known as the Civil Aeronautics Authority). Tocumen International Airport is one of the few airports in the region that has two runways capable of servicing the largest commercial aircraft operating in the current situation.
It included the construction of a new terminal, hundreds of parking spaces, the diversion of the Tocumen River and four new direct access lanes to the airport. This included the addition of 6 remote positions, allowing Tocumen Airport to have a total of 28 boarding gates. To build the structure that currently houses the current passenger terminal, a large amount of earth had to be moved and the Tocumen riverbed diverted from its original site. The renovation of the old Tocumen International Airport (originally built in 194 to be used only as a cargo terminal) was the last step in the modernization project of the International Airport of Tocumen.
New boarding gates were built to allow more flights to and from Panama and to facilitate the growth of commercial and domestic traffic areas.
