Air Force Colonel Alfredo Mendivil Duarte Airport — Ayacucho, Peru

Air Force Colonel Alfredo Mendivil Duarte Airport serves Ayacucho, the capital of Peru's Ayacucho Region high in the southern Peruvian Andes. At 8,917 feet above sea level, AYP ranks among the higher-altitude airports in this list, a reflection of the mountainous terrain typical of this part of Peru. A single runway handles flights connecting Ayacucho mainly to Lima, since ground travel through the mountains takes considerably more time than the short flight requires. The nearest other airports sit well over 200 kilometers off, including Francisco Carle Airport at about 206 kilometers, Maria Reiche Neuman Airport at a nearly matching distance, and Captain Renán Elías Olivera International Airport roughly 228 kilometers out. Such distances are common across Peru's Andean and coastal airports, serving isolated population centers separated by difficult terrain.