Isidoro Pastor Román

Felipe Ángeles International Airport was built to relieve the heavy air traffic congestion in Mexico City and is expected to serve up to 40 million passengers a year in 2023.

How much progress has been made on the this first stage of Felipe Ángeles International Airport, and what is its current capacity?

Felipe Ángeles International Airport was designed in its master development program to be projected in three stages. The first is from 2022 to 2032, and by then we expect the airport to double to an annual capacity of 40 million passengers up from its current capacity of 20 million in the first phase. Based on the demand at the national level, which is growing between 9% and 10% a year, we expect the airport to reach full capacity within the first five or six years of operation.

What is the objective behind the creation of airport group Olmeca-Maya-Mexica?

In 2019, a committee was formed to initiate the necessary preparations and coordination to first create a company that could manage Felipe Ángeles Airport, and in a second phase, obtain the concession to manage the airport. In 2021, activities began to intensify, such that in addition to managing this airport, the airports of Palenque, Chetumal, and Tulum would be managed. In addition to these four airports and Tren Maya, between six and seven additional projects are being considered in the Southeast. Aside from Tren Maya, a number of ecological parks are being considered, alongside certain productive developments, with one being an underwater park. Tulum Airport is currently under construction; it will be completed by the end of 2023 and enter into operation.

How do you want to better connect this new airport with Mexico City?

The main connectivity is already established, namely the Mexico-Pachuca highway, and then a deviation to Felipe Ángeles Airport. The other one that most of the people who come here, both passengers and service providers, decide to use is the exterior circuit in Mexiquense for Lecheria. Through Pachuca, the matter is a somewhat more complicated due to the congestion in Indios Verdes. However, work is already under way to relieve that congestion and improve vehicular traffic toward the airport. By the start of 2023, the connection between Mexico City International Airport and this airport will be streamlined. A suburban train that departs from Buenavista station and which is in the city center on average in 45 or 50 minutes from this point will also commence soon. By 2023, we will have full connectivity by road such that this airport will have the same arrival facilities as Mexico City International Airport.

What strategies is Felipe Ángeles International Airport using to incentivize more international airlines to use it?

We have received several visits from different airlines, and a route is still being planned from Europe to the airport, directly and daily. We have been asked to reserve a route for commercial reasons from Europe, and we are beginning to receive some information to commence reverse engineering. There is already the possibility of a route to the US. Currently, there is a connection to Houston and Los Angeles, and we will shortly commence a route to Havana. We also intend to operate Panama-Mexico, Costa Rica-Mexico, and Colombia-Mexico routes. These projects have already begun with different airlines. In September 2022, we went from 12 operations to 62.

Why was it necessary to build Felipe Ángeles International Airport?

In 2019, Mexico City International Airport transported 50.3 million passengers, 18 million more than its installed capacity, making it one of the 10 most congested airports in the world, sometimes even coming in first. If demand continues to grow at 9-10% per year, an alternative was necessary to relieve that congestion in landings and takeoffs at the airport as well as the facilities. This is precisely why Felipe Ángeles Airport was built. When operating this airport simultaneously with that of Mexico City International Airport, we are working on a gradual opening. We are gradually set to reach the targets that we have scheduled in our airport development master program.