Juan Mendoza International Airport — Oruro, Bolivia

High on Bolivia's Altiplano at an elevation that leaves many first-time visitors short of breath, ORU serves Oruro, a mining city famous well beyond Bolivia's borders for its UNESCO-recognized Carnival, a weeks-long spectacle of costumed dance and folklore staged each year before Lent. The airport, named for early Bolivian aviator Juan Mendoza, operates at an altitude that significantly affects aircraft performance, requiring longer takeoff distances and limiting payloads in a manner common to airfields across the Andean highlands. Scheduled commercial service has historically been thin, with Oruro relying more on road and rail links to La Paz and other Bolivian cities, though the airport remains an important connection during the Carnival season when demand for air travel into the region spikes noticeably. Oruro's economy, built around tin and other mineral extraction, has long shaped the airport's modest cargo role as well.