For several years, there had been talk in Mexico City of a whole new international airport to serve the country's capital. A Pharaonic project, but prohibitively expensive.to over 15 billion dollars- had caused controversy. It was finally cancelled with the election of a new government in 2018.
According to Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador, President of Mexico, the old airport was a symbol of corruption under the previous administration. However, the President conceded that there was an urgent need to improve Mexico City's air traffic capacity.
In 2019, the decision was therefore taken to transforming the...
For several years, there had been talk in Mexico City of a whole new international airport to serve the country's capital. A Pharaonic project, but prohibitively expensive.to over 15 billion dollars- had caused controversy. It was finally cancelled with the election of a new government in 2018.
According to Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador, President of Mexico, the old airport was a symbol of corruption under the previous administration. However, the President conceded that there was an urgent need to improve Mexico City's air traffic capacity.
In 2019, the decision was therefore taken to convert the Santa Lucia military air base into a civilian airport. The Felipe Angeles platform (AIFA) benefits from 2,300 hectares of land 2.5 times more than the current international airport.
Located 45 km north-east of the capital, AIFA will host in phase 1 18 million passengers. With the possibility in the final phase of 100 million passengers. This would make it the busiest airport in the country.. The total investment is 3.5 billion dollars. In 2019, Mexico City international airport handled just over 50 million passengers. However, traffic fell back to 11.7 million passengers in the first six months of 2021.
What is surprising, however, is the speed with which the country is building this airport. The main runway is ready, the control tower has been completed, and the water supply and paraffin refuelling systems are ready for use. The shell of the terminal has been in the ground for several months. Workers are now busy installing the glass façades and fitting out the interior. According to government information, the airport should be ready to open in March 2022.. A technological challenge!
In principle, an airport for low-cost airlines
According to the general manager of the project, Guillermo Ramirez Vivanco, the work is progressing very well. "We're going to have a first-class airport. And this airport is undoubtedly destined to become the hub airport for the centre of the country", he told the local media.
Felipe Angeles will mainly be used for low-cost flights. This would benefit regular passengers at the current airport. The transfer of low-cost traffic would relieve the current airport of its capacity. And would enable it to manage an expansion in international flights.
However, several airline industry specialists still have doubts about how AIFA will work once it opens. There is, for example, the management of air traffic over the Mexican megalopolis.. Building a new airport will only make sense if the management of aircraft movements is guaranteed. However, nothing has yet been finalised regarding the coordination of flights in the skies over Mexico City.
Another obstacle is the review of the status of Mexico's federal civil aviation agency after it was downgraded by the US FAA. Le Mexico is now in category 2 and its air traffic management agency will have to be upgraded to category 1 to authorise US airlines to serve the future airport.
Yet traffic to the United States is the largest segment after domestic flights. So far, no airline has officially committed to operating domestic or international flights from the future Felipe Angeles hub.
And finally.., Efficient land links are also lacking. A system of motorways should enable the airport to be reached in 35 minutes compared with the current airport. But that's without taking into account the legendary traffic jams in the city. A project to build a railway line has just been awarded. It involves a six-kilometre extension of an existing line to the future airport. However, the line is not due to enter service before 2023..
