Mexico City’s airport set to undergo modernization this year

Mexico City’s Benito Juárez international airport (AICM) looks set to undergo further modernization this year, even though terminal 2 was expanded and plans for a 3erminal 3 were scratched in 2020. 

The airport’s state-owned operator has requested federal funding for minor projects of which the finance ministry (SHCP) has included 13 for 3.7bn pesos (US$185mn) in the investment portfolio for the communications and transportation ministry (SCT). 

While the inclusion does not guarantee the works will materialize, several news outlets have confirmed the construction of a 205mn-peso emergency platform for planes and helicopters, which is also included in the portfolio.

Planning for the platform is set to start this month. The platform will cover 17,000m2 of which 14,000m2 are for planes and the rest for helicopters. The cost-benefit analysis is already included in the portfolio. 

Other projects

But the highest capex in the portfolio is 1.1bn pesos for works to reinforce and restructure the foundation and superstructure of terminals 1 (T1) and 2 (T2). 

The cost-benefit analysis is already complete while works are planned to take four years. Stage one is set to kick off in 2021, with an estimated 307mn-peso investment. 

Other big projects include a 925mn-peso investment in runway maintenance and 971 pesos for taxiway maintenance. 

The operator also requested some 73mn pesos for pre-investment studies for rehabilitation, infrastructure modifications and major maintenance works this year. 

SHCP’s investment portfolio for the airport includes:

• Pre-investment studies for rehabilitation, major maintenance and infrastructure adjustments: 73mn pesos
• Emergency platform: 205mn peso
• Taxiway maintenance: 971mn pesos
• Platform maintenance: 925mn pesos
• Relocation of T2 employee dining room: 19mn pesos
• Rehabilitation of drainage system and parking space: 38mn pesos
• Reinforcement, restructuring of T1 and T2 foundation and superstructure: 1.1bn pesos
• Rehabilitation and modernization of the terminals’ main electromechanical elements: 63mn pesos
• Elevator replacements: 92mn pesos 
• Expansion and modernization of assets for cleaning: 44mn pesos 
• Installation, implementation and equipment for electrical systems in the operational area: 66mn pesos 
• Expansion and modernization of assets for tracks, runways and platforms: 47mn pesos 
• Acquisition of material for T1 service area improvements: 4mn pesos 

Modernization, not expansion

Construction for terminal 3 was supposed to begin last year, but even though a tender was launched and then canceled, the government still scratched the plans as passenger numbers collapsed during the pandemic and defense ministry Sedena promised to deliver the US$3.4bn Felipe Ángeles international airport (AIFA) by March 2022. 

AIFA, which is being built at Santa Lucía military airbase is around 50km from AICM. 

The almost 500mn-peso expansion of T2, however, was completed, adding an “L” wing. 

But the airport also reached its limit as it has handled over half of the country’s air traffic. 

To solve the problem, the previous administration proposed building a mega-airport in the nearby dry Texcoco lake and shutting down AICM, but President Andrés Manuel López Obrador canceled the plans shortly after taking office in 2018. 

The new plan is to create a three-airport system – comprising AICM, AIFA and the international airport of Toluca – to split passenger demand in the next few years. 

Unexpectedly, AICM will coordinate the three-airport system, for which it will define goals for infrastructure improvements.