[5] El Alto airport was a primary hub for the former Lloyd Aéreo Boliviano, Bolivia's flag carrier which ceased operations in 2007.
Bolivian air transport started in 1916, when the Military School of Aviation (Spanish: Escuela Militar de Aviación) was formed in La Paz.
[8] The new terminal consists of the enlargement, reshaping and construction of the baggage claim room, the check-in area and the corridor to the air bridges.
The airport has two runways: The main one "10R/28L" has a concrete surface and is 4,000 metres (13,123 ft) long, allowing large aircraft operations at higher altitudes.
Because of the thin high altitude air, most commercial wide-body aircraft such as the Boeing 747 and Airbus A330 cannot operate at full load out of El Alto International Airport.
As one of the world's highest-elevation airports, El Alto offers features taken advantage of by aircraft manufacturers such as Airbus, Bombardier, and Boeing to test high-altitude takeoff and landing.