El Calafate “Aeropuerto Internacional Comandante Armando Tola” (FCE/SAWC) is the westernmost airport of Argentina and the gateway to the “Los Glaciers” nationalpark thus mostly bringing tourists to/from this part of Patagonia. The airport was opened in 2000 and handles roughly 700.000 passenger a year offering regular services to Ushuaia, Buenos Aires and other Argentinian cities.

Written by Maximilian Kramer and Fabian Jürgens. Last Update: December 2024

	Spot #1 – Terminal fence – Apron
WHERE	This spot is simply located along the fence front just west of the airport terminal. Come out/park your car in front of the terminal and head down the small dirt hill towards the fence where you can move along freely now.
WHAT	From here you can see the apron in front. The runway unluckily is a bit lower thus not visible from here.
TIME	Runway shots: Roughly from October until March in the early morning or late afternoon, otherwise there will be backlight as in the sample pictures. Apron depends on the angle but could be made all time of the day.
MISC.	You will find shadow and restrooms in the terminal. Some ground stuff may disturb your view at some points, so go search your favourite position. A small sort of step would be useful to get over the fence, but you can also use live view or shoot thru the mesh as the aircraft are mostly not moving quickly here.
FOCAL LENGTH	Should be 50-250mm

Unluckily we cannot provide any nice pictures as during our visit this spot had bad light as you can see below – if you took better picutres here, please send us some examples!

The spot itsself:

	Spot #2 – Departure Area – All movements
WHERE	The spot is within the terminal in the departue area near gate 5. Find your prefered spot along the windows. It is airside and a valid boarding pass is needed.
WHAT	Most part of the apron and partly the runway.
TIME	Runway shots: Roughly from October until March in the early morning or late afternoon, otherwise there will be backlight as in the sample pictures. Apron depends on the angle but could be made all time of the day.
MISC.	Everything what you need is in the terminal facility.
FOCAL LENGTH	Apron shots are possbile with less than 100 mm, runway can be shot with 200mm-300mm.

FTE-Spot2

FTE-Spot2

FTE-Spot2