Eloy Alfaro International Airport — Manta, Ecuador

MEC is Eloy Alfaro International Airport, serving the port city of Manta on Ecuador's Pacific coast. Named after the influential Ecuadorian statesman Eloy Alfaro, the airport supports both commercial passenger service and a notable military presence, having hosted a US-operated Forward Operating Location for counter-narcotics surveillance flights in the early 2000s before that arrangement ended. Today MEC handles domestic flights connecting Manta to Quito and Guayaquil, supporting the city's fishing, tuna-canning, and tourism industries along the Ecuadorian coast. Its runway length, a legacy of the military cooperation era, allows it to accommodate larger aircraft than many other coastal Ecuadorian airports, making it useful for charter and cargo operations as well as scheduled passenger service.