President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said during his morning conference at the National Palace that he would ask the companies Aeroméxico , Viva Aerobús and Volaris to expand their route offer at the new Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA).
López Obrador said that he had spoken with Eduardo Tricio, president of the Aeroméxico Board of Directors, to ask him to expand the flights. “He told me that they had expanded one,” said the president about the response received by the airline.
The president also extended the invitation to low cost airlines . “I take this opportunity to ask the director of Viva (Aerobus) the same… and Volaris too, because the (Mexico) City airport is full ,” he said.
To date, Aeroméxico has flights from AIFA to Mérida, Villahermosa and Puerto Vallarta, while Volaris flies to Tijuana and Cancún. In the case of Viva Aerobus, the flights it operates are to Guadalajara and Monterrey.
López Obrador inaugurated the AIFA on March 21, the birthday of 19th-century Mexican hero Benito Juárez. “I think the airport is 100% complete, completely finished,” the president said at the grand opening.
But after the majestic opening ceremony of Mexico City’s newest airport last month, 45 kilometers north of the capital’s center, the work is still under construction. Chain-link fences covered in green tarps line the entrance to the compound as dust painted the sky a reddish hue as construction crews continued to dig.
Not a single suitcase has been seen there recently, as confirmed by the Reuters news agency in a recent tour, only the flashing announcement on a screen announcing a single flight from the company Aeroméxico arriving from the Mexican city of Mérida and with delay. The reality contrasts with the result sold by López Obrador, who described the project as “one of the best airports in the world” before the inauguration.
The initial problems could be embarrassing for President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who made the work a key project of his administration. It would also give arguments to the opposition that for a long time has criticized the work and has described it as a vain initiative.
The president unsettled investors when he canceled an earlier $13 billion airport that was partially built by his predecessor, arguing the proposal was riddled with bribes, too expensive and poorly located.
Instead, he ordered the Army to build the new commercial airport on the land of the Santa Lucía military air base.
But in addition to unfinished construction works, the project also suffers from congested roads linking it to the city and will not have a rail connection until next year. What’s more, it doesn’t allow passengers to arrive or be picked up via app-based ride sharing services.
A new highway connection to the new airport is still being built, although one employee said that already built cut her travel time in half.
López Obrador said this morning that the transfer time to the AIFA is replenished upon arrival at the air terminal. In addition, he assured, its technology saves up to an hour in paperwork to enter the waiting room.
Tourists arrive, but not to travel
Of the 14 confirmed arrivals and departures at AIFA during the Reuters tour, compared to about 900 daily flights at Mexico City International Airport, a handful were military flights, according to the logs.
Since opening, the new airport has averaged about a dozen flights a day, operations records show. The Army has estimated that the work will serve 2.5 million passengers this year and double that in 2023, Mexican media reported.
Inside the new airport, check-in counters were empty, even as Mexican airlines Volaris, Aeroméxico and VivaAerobus, as well as Venezuela’s Conviasa, advertised routes to and from there.
An employee who works with airlines said AIFA flights are estimated to cost about half of those to and from the old Mexico City airport due to lower facility fees and government incentives.
Volaris told Reuters that the costs of the flights would be lower, although it clarified that it was not receiving subsidies. The other airlines did not comment.
The airport should eventually have two commercial runways, public construction plans show, though only one is currently operational.
“Being able to land two planes or take off or combine operations at the same time (…) not even the Mexico City airport has it,” said Víctor Manuel Peña, professor of aeronautical engineering at the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN).
Beyond the security checkpoint, workers are building stores for Krispy Kreme and Starbucks, while a Mexican souvenir shop and bakery were barely open. Most places are closed and covered with “coming soon” signs.
At the end of the afternoon, many tourists flocked to the little more than 1,500 hectares of land, although not to travel. Many of them were curious neighbors or employees on their day off, families who stayed as the sun went down hoping to see the delayed Aeroméxico flight land.
With information from Reuters and Juan Tolentino
