At Santiago’s airport, smoking is at outdoor areas just outside the terminal doors. Chile has one of Latin America’s stricter smoke-free regimes, so there is no airside or indoor smoking at Santiago. The 2025 vaping law extended the same ban to e-cigarettes. Chile’s regional airports publish no designated smoking area of their own; open-air smoking outside the terminal building, landside, is permitted under the same national law.
For international travel through Chile, Santiago (SCL) is the airport that matters, as LATAM’s hub. Domestic travellers also pass through Calama (CJC), Antofagasta (ANF), Concepción (CCP), Puerto Montt (PMC) and Punta Arenas (PUQ) — none of them publishes a designated smoking area, and no smoking facility after security is confirmed at any of the five.
How Chilean Airport Smoking Works
Chile’s smoke-free law (Ley 19.419, amended by Ley 20.660) bans indoor smoking and explicitly names airports:
- No indoor smoking and no airside smoking anywhere at Santiago
- Smoking is only at outdoor areas just outside the terminal doors, landside
- Former airside options (an enclosed booth, the LATAM lounge area, a restaurant’s open-air spot) are all closed
- Ley 21.642 (in force 20 May 2025) extended the ban to vaping
The Hub
Comodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL). Santiago’s airport and LATAM’s hub (Terminals 1 and 2). There is no airside smoking — the only sanctioned option is outdoors, just beyond the terminal exit doors (landside, signposted). International transit passengers staying airside have no in-airport smoking option without clearing immigration and exiting.
Regional Airports
Chile’s regional airports publish no designated smoking area of their own. Open-air smoking outside the terminal building, landside, is permitted under Chile’s national law, and no smoking facility after security is confirmed at any of them.
- Calama – El Loa Airport (CJC) — serves the Atacama Desert’s copper-mining region; no designated smoking area published.
- Antofagasta – Andrés Sabella Airport (ANF) — northern Chile’s mining and port hub; no designated smoking area published.
- Concepción – Carriel Sur Airport (CCP) — the Biobío Region’s main airport; no designated smoking area published on either terminal level.
- Puerto Montt – El Tepual Airport (PMC) — gateway to the Lake District and northern Patagonia; no designated smoking area published.
- Punta Arenas Airport (PUQ) — Chile’s southernmost major airport; no designated smoking area published.
Tips for Smokers at Chilean Airports
- Santiago has no airside smoking — plan to smoke before security or accept a no-smoking layover
- The outdoor smoking areas are just outside the terminal exit doors, landside
- Don’t expect any old “airside booth” — those are confirmed gone
- Vaping is banned indoors and airside too (Ley 21.642, 2025) — outdoor only
Chile Airports Compared: Indoor, Outdoor & After Security
| Airport | After security | Indoor room | Outdoor area |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smoking at Antofagasta Airport – ANF | – | – | Yes |
| Smoking at Calama Airport – CJC | – | – | Yes |
| Smoking at Concepción Airport – CCP | – | – | Yes |
| Smoking at Puerto Montt Airport – PMC | – | – | Yes |
| Smoking at Punta Arenas Airport – PUQ | – | – | Yes |
| Arturo Merino Benitez International Airport (SCL) | – | – | Yes |