Mexico seeks to increase airport operator's infra budget by 1,200%

Mexico’s state-owned airport operator ASA could receive the most infrastructure funds since 2015 as the finance ministry (SHCP) proposed increasing the company’s 2021 infrastructure budget by 1,212% to 482mn pesos (US$22.5mn).

The operator, which manages 19 airports, will receive the funds only if lawmakers approve the ministry’s budget proposal by November 15.

The senate has approved President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s budget proposals without modifications in the last two years. 

Of the total infrastructure budget, ASA would allocate almost 209mn pesos to the expansion of Tepic airport’s terminal in Nayarit state and nearly 182mn pesos to the modernization of Puerto Escondido airport in Oaxaca state. That plan alone represents 81% of the company’s total budget, daily Expansión reported on Monday. 

The remaining funds would go to improvements at Mérida airport in Yucatán state, which is under the concession of private operator Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste (ASUR), and to Colima airport in Colima state, and projects for fuel distribution. 

This year, ASA received 37.7mn pesos from the federal government, 150mn pesos in 2019, 41.3mn in 2018, 23.5mn pesos in 2017, 254mn pesos in 2016 and almost 691mn pesos in 2015. 

While Mexico has not yet closed airports or restricted flights to contain the spread of coronavirus, air traffic in Latin America dropped 98% in April, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

Such unexpected changes in demand forced Mexico's top three private airport operators – ASUR, Grupo Aeroportuario Centro Norte (OMA) and Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico (GAP) – to announce non-mandatory delays in capex this year. 

Unlike private operators, ASA is not obligated to invest in infrastructure each year, only in maintenance works. 

ASA operates the following airports: Campeche, Ciudad del Carmen, Ciudad Obregón, Ciudad Victoria, Chetumal, Colima, Guaymas, Ixtepec, Loreto, Matamoros, Nogales, Nuevo Laredo, Poza Rica, Puebla, Puerto Escondido, Tamuín, Tehuacán, Tepic and Uruapan. With partners it operates the airports of Querétaro, Toluca, Cuernavaca, Tuxtla Gutiérrez and Palenque.

It also supplies aircraft fuel via 60 stations at airports, which total more than 11.2mn liters of fuel per day, according to the company’s website.

Photo credit: ASA