Valentine’s Day Season 2026 Begins January 20 at Quito Airport
- According to industry forecasts, a 6% increase is expected compared to 2025.
- Ecuadorian flowers reach the world primarily through cargo hubs in the United States and Europe.
- Quito Airport ranks fifth among airports with the highest cargo volume in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Tomorrow, Tuesday, January 20, the Valentine’s Day flower export season begins at Mariscal Sucre International Airport and will run until February 10. This year, a 6% increase in flower exports is expected, according to initial industry estimates.
In the 2025 season, the most successful on record, Ecuador exported a total of 28,779 metric tons of flowers—nearly 29 million kilograms—from Quito’s Mariscal Sucre Airport, shipped on 534 outbound flights. An increase in the number of flights is also expected this year.
The main destinations for Ecuadorian flowers are the major cargo distribution hubs in the United States and Europe, particularly Miami and Amsterdam, from where they are distributed to markets worldwide.
Cargo operations at Quito’s airport have experienced sustained growth, allowing it to rank fifth in Latin America and the Caribbean in terms of annual cargo volume. The year 2025 ended with a total of 407,240 tons of cargo transported across exports, imports, and domestic shipments. If we analyze only the performance of air cargo exports, 336,480 tons were exported from Quito, registering an 11.2% increase compared to 2014.
For Ramón Miró, president and CEO of Corporación Quiport, this is good news. “Air cargo performance is undoubtedly one of the main indicators we use to evaluate airport operations, as it allows us to measure the contribution of Quito’s airport to an activity that is key to the economic development of the city and the country.”