President Carlos Ibáñez International Airport — Punta Arenas, Chile

President Carlos Ibanez International Airport, coded PUQ, sits on the windswept plains north of Punta Arenas, the principal city of Chilean Patagonia and one of the southernmost sizeable urban centers on Earth. Named for a two-time Chilean president, the airport functions as the essential air link for a region where overland travel is slow and the Strait of Magellan cuts the landscape into fragmented pieces of steppe and channel. Sky Airline and LATAM operate the bulk of scheduled service, connecting Punta Arenas to Santiago and, seasonally, to Puerto Williams and charter flights bound for Antarctic staging points. Strong, near-constant winds off the strait shape both the runway orientation and the flying conditions pilots train specifically to handle. For travelers, PUQ typically serves as the final domestic hop before excursions into Torres del Paine National Park or embarkation for Antarctic cruises departing from nearby ports.