Main Terminal

Main terminal basics at Arica Airport

Two airlines use Arica’s Main Terminal: LATAM Airlines and Sky Airline, so every commercial flight in and out of ACM runs through this single concourse. The building is small by international standards, and you’re rarely more than a 3‑minute walk from the front doors to the furthest check-in counter.

Check-in desks for LATAM and Sky sit in one shared hall directly after the main entrance, with only a few counters open outside peak bank times like the early morning departures block between about 06:00 and 08:00. Lines can form if two flights overlap, so showing up 90 minutes before a domestic departure is realistic here, even though the airport feels sleepy.

Security screening sits just past the check-in area and typically runs with only one or two lanes open, which is enough for the small passenger volume ACM handles in a day. There is no fast-track lane, no TSA PreCheck equivalent, and no known priority screening even for LATAM elites, so everyone feeds into the same queue.

Post-security, the Main Terminal holds one compact departure lounge area serving all gates, with seating clustered close to each boarding door and only a short corridor separating them. With only a handful of LATAM and Sky flights operating, you might see gate numbers change on the departure screens within 30 minutes of boarding, so keep an eye on the monitors instead of camping at a single door.

Food options inside the Main Terminal are limited enough that no specific restaurants show up in current listings or reviews, which lines up with ACM’s small size and low daily passenger count. If you care about a proper meal, plan to eat in Arica city before heading the roughly 20 km north to the airport, or bring snacks through after security if allowed by local rules.

There are no catalogued airline or independent lounges in Arica’s Main Terminal, so business class tickets on LATAM or elite status with oneworld partners do not translate into a dedicated quiet space here. Charging points can be hit or miss, so having a power bank makes more sense at ACM than packing lounge access cards.

Retail is minimal as well, with no documented duty-free store and only small kiosks or stands mentioned in passing by travelers, which fits a regional field handling relatively short domestic hops. You won’t find big global brands or long corridors of shopping, so pick up essentials like toiletries or reading material in Santiago or another hub before flying north.

Arrivals are straightforward: bags usually appear on the single claim belt within about 15–25 minutes of landing for typical LATAM and Sky narrowbody flights. Outside the terminal doors, you’ll find local taxis and pre-arranged transfers that make the roughly 20–25 minute drive back into Arica, with no rail link and no large on-site car rental village reported in current sources.

One last tip: because ACM runs everything through this single Main Terminal with limited food, shops, and services, treat it as a short stop rather than a place to linger and aim to handle cash, SIM cards, and bigger errands in town or at a larger connecting airport like SCL.