Ministro Pistarini International Airport () , also known as Ezeiza International Airport owing to its location in the Ezeiza Partido in Greater Buenos Aires, is an international airport south-southwest of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, the capital city of Argentina. Covering it is one of two commercial airports serving Buenos Aires and its metropolitan area, along with Aeroparque Jorge Newbery. Pistarini Airport is the country's largest international airport by number of passengers handled—85% of international traffic—and is a hub for international flights of Aerolíneas Argentinas, which operates domestic services from the airport as well. It has been operated by Aeropuertos Argentina 2000 S.A. since 1998. History The airport is named after Juan Pistarini, Minister of Public Works during the presidency of Juan Perón, who placed the cornerstone of the project on 22 December 1945. It was designed and erected by Argentine technicians. Its construction, which took four years to be completed, was one of the major projects in the five-year plan of the first presidency of Juan Perón. The airport was inaugurated on 30 April 1949. When it opened it was the third-largest airport in the world. A 1949 diagram shows three runways crossing at 60-degree angles: runway 10/28, 4/22 and 16/34. The Ezeiza massacre took place near the airport in 1973. Operations Since December 2012, citizens from countries requiring an entry visa for Argentine nationals including Australia and Canada are charged a "reciprocity fee" to enter Argentina, equivalent to the price the countries charge Argentine citizens for a visa. Until the tax was collected, in Argentine pesos or US dollars, at the airport; since then, the tax must be paid in advance online from the country of origin. As of 23 August 2016, the Argentine Government (Presidential Decree No. 959/2016) has resolved to suspend the collection of the reciprocity fee from US passport holders who visit the country for less than 90 days, for tourist or business purposes. In October 2012, Ezeiza Airport recorded the highest annual traffic growth of all the airports operated by Aeropuertos Argentina 2000. For this month, the airport handled 767,824 passengers, a 10.9% increase compared to the previous October; the volume of international and domestic traffic for October 2012 increased 8.7% and 108.3%, respectively, year-on-year. Overall, 2012 traffic figures for the airport indicated a 7.3% increase over the previous year. Figures for July 2013 showed that the airport handled 688,397 passengers, an 8.9%