Mexico City International Airport


Mexico City International Airport ; officially Aeropuerto Internacional Benito Juárez is an international airport that serves Greater Mexico City. It is Mexico's and Latin America's busiest airport by passenger traffic and aircraft movements. The airport sustains 35,000 jobs directly and around 15,000 indirectly in the immediate area. The airport is owned by Grupo Aeroportuario de la Ciudad de México and operated by Aeropuertos y Servicios Auxiliares, the government-owned corporation, which also operates 22 other airports throughout Mexico. In recent years Toluca Airport has become an alternate airport.
This airport is served by 30 domestic and international passenger airlines and 17 cargo carriers. As the main hub for Mexico's largest airline Aeroméxico, the airport has become a SkyTeam hub. It is also a hub for Aeromar, Interjet, Volaris, and a focus city for VivaAerobus. On a typical day, more than 100,000 passengers pass through the airport to and from more than 100 destinations on four continents. In 2018, the airport handled 47,700,547 passengers, a 6.6% increase compared to 2017.
Operating near the limits of its capacity, calls for replacing the airport were announced in September 2014, with the proposed location to be built north-northeast of the current airport, east of Ecatepec. In January 2019, construction of the new airport was cancelled.

Location

Located at the neighbourhood of Peñón de los Baños within Venustiano Carranza, one of the sixteen boroughs into which Mexico City is divided, the airport is east from Downtown Mexico City and is surrounded by the built-up areas of Gustavo A. Madero to the north and Venustiano Carranza to the west, south and east. As the airport is located on the east side of Mexico City and its runways run southwest-northeast, an airliner's landing approach is usually directly over the conurbation of Mexico City when the wind is from the northeast. Therefore, there is an important overflying problem and noise pollution.

History

Origins

The original site, known as Llanos de Balbuena, had been used for aeronautical activities since 1910, when Alberto Braniff became the first to fly an aeroplane in Mexico, and in Latin America. The flight was onboard of a Voisin biplane. On November 30, 1911, President Francisco I. Madero, was the first head of State in the world to fly onboard of a Deperdussin airplane piloted by Geo M. Dyott of Moisant International.
In 1915 the airport first opened as Balbuena Military Airport with five runways. Construction of a small civilian airport began in 1928. The first landing was on November 5, 1928, and regular service started in 1929, but was officially inaugurated on May 15, 1931. On July 8, 1943, the Official Gazette of the Federation published a decree that acknowledged Mexico City's Central Airport as an international airport, capable of managing international arrivals and departures of passengers and aircraft. Its first international route was to Los Angeles International Airport operated by Mexicana. Construction of Runway 05D-23I started six years later, as well as new facilities such as a platform, a terminal building, a control tower and offices for the authorities. The runway started its operations in 1951. On November 19, 1952, President Miguel Alemán opened the passenger terminal, which later became Terminal 1.
In 1956 the airport had four runways in service: 05L-23R, 05R-23L, with electric lights for night-time service; 13-31 which had been built to relieve 14-32, to which residential areas had encroached too closely; and 5 Auxiliar.

1960s–1990s

On December 2, 1963, Walter C. Buchanan, former director of the Transport and Communications Department, changed the airport's name "Aeropuerto Central" to "Aeropuerto Internacional de la Ciudad de México".
In the 1970s, president Luis Echeverría closed the two remaining shorter runways ; on the land of 13-31 a social housing complex was built, Unidad Fiviport. leaving the two parallel runways. In 1980, the terminal was expanded to double its capacity, using a single large terminal rather than multiple terminals as in other airports. Ten years later in 1990, the mixed domestic/international gates were separated to increase the terminal's functionality, along with the separation of domestic and international check-in halls.
On November 24, 1978, the "Mexico" Control Tower began its operations; it has been in service since then.
The AICM has continually improved its infrastructure. On August 15, 1979, and after about a year of remodeling works, the terminal building reopened to the public; the airport continued its operations during the renovation, which improved passenger transit with better space distribution in walkways and rooms.
Due to constant growth in demand of both passengers and operations, on January 13, 1994, the Official Gazette of the Federation, published a presidential decree that prohibited general aviation operations in the AICM, which were moved to Toluca International Airport in order to clear air traffic in the capital's airport.
Renovations to the AICM continued and on April 11, 1994, a new International Terminal building was ready and operational. It was built by a private contractor according to a co-investment agreement with Airports and Auxiliary Services. In 2001, in order to further improve service to passengers, construction for Module XI started. This Module permitted eight new contact positions in the Airport Terminal, capable of receiving eight regular airplanes, two wide-body, or four narrow-body aircraft.

2003–2007 expansion

Because of the increasing traffic, president Vicente Fox announced the construction of a new, larger airport on in the municipalities of Texcoco and San Salvador Atenco, but when local violent protests took place in 2002, the new airport was cancelled. Instead, to respond to the growing demand and aiming to position the AICM as one of the greatest in terms of quality, services, security, and operational functionality, on May 30, 2003, the Federal Government announced an update: an extension to the air terminal in order to widen its service capacity from 20 million to 32 million passengers a year. This program was part of the Metropolitan Airport System, promoted by the Federal Administration. The Communications and Transportation Ministry, Aeropuertos y Servicios Auxiliares and AICM performed expansion and remodeling work on Terminal 1, over a surface area of ; 48,000 of which were new construction and 42,000 of which were remodeled. The renovations include new airline counters, commercial spaces and an elevator for people with disabilities, which improved the flow of passengers with domestic destinations.
Among other works performed in the international area, a long-distance bus terminal was built with connections to Puebla, Cuernavaca, Pachuca, Toluca, Querétaro and Orizaba. The new bus station has access to a food court and the international arrivals and departures area, as well as a pedestrian bridge that connects to "The Peñón de los Baños" neighbourhood.
The airport was formally named after the 19th-century president Benito Juárez in 2006.
On November 15, 2007, Terminal 2 was opened, significantly increasing the airport's capacity. All SkyTeam members moved their operations to the new terminal, except Air France and KLM. It was officially inaugurated in March 2008, once the new road accesses and taxiways were finished. Terminal 2 increased the airport's contact positions by 40% and the operational capacity by 15%. The terminal was inaugurated by former President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa.

Lack of capacity and slot restrictions

The airport has suffered from a lack of capacity due to restrictions on expansion, since it is located in a densely populated area. In 2014, Mexican authorities established
and declared a maximum capacity of 61 operations per hour with a total of 16 rush hours. Another issue with the airport is the limitation that its two runways provide, for this reason, only government, military, commercial and specially authorised aircraft are allowed to use the airport. Private aircraft must use alternate airports, such as Lic. Adolfo López Mateos International Airport in Toluca, General Mariano Matamoros Airport in Cuernavaca, or Hermanos Serdán International Airport in Puebla.

Attempt to replace the airport

Construction of a new Mexico City international airport was announced by Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto on September 2, 2014, who said that it would be "emblemático": a national symbol, replacing the current Mexico City International Airport, which is at capacity. It was to have a single terminal of and six runways: two of and four of. The architects were Sir Norman Foster and Fernando Romero, son-in-law of billionaire Carlos Slim and architect of the Soumaya Museum.
Construction was to take eight years, costing 120 or 169 billion Mexican pesos, about 9–13 billion U.S. dollars, depending on the source, on land already owned by the federal government in the Zona Federal del Lago de Texcoco, between Ecatepec and Atenco in the State of Mexico, about 10 km northeast of the current airport. The terminal was to be sustainable, aiming at a LEED Platinum certification. The project was cancelled on October 30, 2018 following a referendum. The costs of cancellation are estimated at over billion.

Terminals and facilities

Terminals

Mexico City International Airport has two passenger terminals. Terminal 1 is separated from Terminal 2 by the runways.

Terminal 1

Terminal 2 was built over a surface area of 242,666.55m² and has modern security systems, in accordance with international standards including a passenger traffic separation systems. The new facility will help AICM increase its capacity to 32 million passengers per year.
Air operations in the new facilities began on November 15, 2007, with flights by Aeromar and Delta Air Lines, and later AeroMéxico, Copa, LAN and Continental Airlines. Terminal 2 was formally inaugurated by former Presidente Felipe Calderón Hinojosa on March 26, 2008.
These projects were done without affecting airplane takeoffs and landings, and will help Mexico City International Airport offer better services, and respond to the growing demand of passengers and operations in the coming years.
Terminal 2 now houses all Aeroméxico flights out of the airport, becoming the airline's main distribution centre. Although the terminal was intended to be served by all-SkyTeam member airlines, Air France and KLM decided to remain at Terminal 1.

Terminal 3

The proposed construction of a Terminal 3 was canceled during the COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico. It is estimated that it will take three or four years to bring the number of flights back to 2019 levels, by which time the General Felipe Ángeles International Airport in Santa Lucía, Zumpango, State of Mexico will be open.

Other facilities

, a government-owned corporation that operates airports in Mexico, has its headquarters on the airport property., Aeropuertos y Servicios Auxiliares. The Aeromar headquarters are located in Hangar 7 in Zone D of the General Aviation Terminal of the airport. Aviacsa had its headquarters in Hangar 1 in Zone C, but ceased operations on May 4, 2011.
The Base Aérea Militar número 19, formerly Sexto Grupo Aéreo de la Fuerza Aérea Mexicana, opened at the AICM on July 22, 2020, when the presidential airplane " José María Morelos y Pavón", returned from the United States, where it had been put up for sale. The main hangar on the base is being used to store suppolies for the COVID--19 pandemic in Mexico.

Airlines and destinations

The airport connects 52 domestic and 50 international destinations in Latin America, North America, Europe and Asia. Aeromexico serves the largest number of cities from any Latin American hub, 46 domestic and 34 international. Most prominent foreign airlines are United Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Avianca Holdings. Aeroméxico/Aeroméxico Connect operates the most departures from the airport followed by Interjet, Volaris, and Aeromar. Aeroméxico also operates to the most destinations followed by Interjet.

Passenger

;Notes
Turkish Airlines' flight from Mexico City to Istanbul makes a stop in Cancún; however, the airline doesn't have local traffic rights between Mexico City and Cancún.

Other Services

In addition to the scheduled airlines above, Mexico City airport is used by some further airlines for chartered flights including:
As of January 2020, Mexico City airport is served by 21 cargo airlines flying directly to Europe, Central, North and South America, Middle East, Africa and East Asia. The following airlines operate the scheduled destinations below.
Airlines providing on-demand cargo services
In 2018, Mexico City International Airport moved 47,700,547 passengers, making it the busiest airport in Latin America in terms of total passengers. It registered a year-to-year increase of 6.6%.
In terms of international passengers, it is the busiest airport in Latin America with 17,204,824 passengers.
The airport is the busiest in Latin America by aircraft movements with 24% more operations than Bogotá-El Dorado and 44.65% more than São Paulo-Guarulhos. It is the 15th busiest airport in the world in terms of aircraft departures. In 2018, the airport handled 458,588 aircraft operations, an average of 1,256 operations per day.
Regarding cargo, the airport is also the busiest in the country and the second busiest in Latin America, after El Dorado International Airport in Bogotá. During 2018, it moved 581,675.28 tons, an annual increase of 8.27%. The net growth of 44,000 tons was the biggest in the region.


YearDomestic% changeInternational% changeTotal% change
201932,660,267 7.117,647,782 2.650,308,049 5.5
201830,495,723 5.217,204,824 9.247,700,547 6.6
201728,979,063 4.815,753,355 12.144,732,418 7.2
201627,654,171 7.714,056,083 10.241,710,254 8.5
201525,674,622 12.812,758,456 10.938,433,078 12.2
201422,753,467 8.911,502,272 8.234,255,739 8.6
201320,900,194 6.210,634,444 8.431,534,638 6.9
201219,678,117 12.79,813,436 10.229,491,553 11.84
201117,461,438 12.038,907,423 4.2626,368,861 9.28
201015,587,068 3.448,543,467 5.4724,130,535 0.46
200916,142,330 3.88,100,726 14.124,243,056 7.5
200816,777,773 1.19,432,444 1.526,210,217 1.3
200716,592,422 4.79,289,240 4.625,881,662 4.7
200615,848,060 2.18,879,236 3.324,727,296 2.5
200515,523,755-8,591,797-24,115,552-

YearDomestic% changeInternational% changeTotal% change
2018317,722 0.7140,866 4.9458,588 2.0
2017315,409 3.6134,255 11.1449,664 0.3
2016327,273 4.2120,874 7.3448,150 5.0
2015314,098 3.5112,663 9.5426,761 5.0
2014307,017 4.3102,937 4.7409,954 4.4
2013294,279 3.398,287 5.9392,566 3.9
2012284,971 7.192,772 10.4377,743 7.9
2011265,986 2.5184,046 4.50350,032 2.98
2010259,470 3.380,428 0.5339,898 2.4
2009268,252 3.380,054 10.3348,306 5.0
2008277,294 3.389,267 2.3366,561 3.1
2007286,821 6.391,340 6.4378,161 6.3
2006269,719 6.885,874 7.1355,593 6.9
2005252,472-80,151-332,623-



YearDomestic% changeInternational% changeTotal% change
2019104,832.5 3.0451,309.8 6.0556,142.3 4.4
2018101,774.72 2.49479,900.56 9.58581,675.28 8.27
201799,303.94 8.15437,958.75 11.83537,262.69 11.13
201691,820.00 11.84391,613.40 7.35483,433.40 8.17
201582,100.42 21.92364,814.69 10.14446,915.11 12.13
201467,341.85 5.75331,214.62 5.85398,556.47 5.83
201363,678.54 19.05312,911.31 1.71376,589.85 5.15
201278,666.10 4.01318,351.98 3.38397,018.08 3.51
201181,953.37 3.41329,502.22 6.90411,455.59 4.68
201084,846.88 1.01308,228.992 29.98393,075.87 22.40
200983,999.43 13.47237,134.01 15.01321,133.44 14.61
200897,070.08-279,025.63-376,095.71-

Busiest routes, 2019


RankAirportPassengers
2019		Passengers
2018		%
Change		Rank
Change		Airline
1Los Angeles, USA1,044,7861,236,16815.48Aeroméxico, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Interjet, Volaris
2New York–JFK, USA1,037,2591,009,0242.801Aeroméxico, Delta Air Lines, Interjet, VivaAerobus
3Madrid, Spain880,988779,77712.982Aeroméxico, Iberia
4Bogotá, Colombia866,896849,5902.08Aeroméxico, Avianca, Interjet, Wingo
5Houston–Intercontinental, USA831,7291,049,83820.783Aeroméxico, Interjet, United Airlines
6Miami, USA770,177663,27716.12Aeroméxico, American Airlines, Interjet, Volaris
7Lima, Peru712,003630,22712.982Aeroméxico, Avianca Peru, Interjet, LATAM Perú
8Dallas/Fort Worth, USA703,307658,5526.801Aeroméxico, American Airlines, Interjet
9Chicago–O’Hare, USA663,715649,4732.191Aeroméxico, Interjet, United Airlines, Volaris
10Paris-Charles de Gaulle, France569,693506,51912.471Aeroméxico, Air France
11Panama City-Tocumen, Panama551,599522,5055.571Aeroméxico, Copa Airlines
12Toronto-Pearson, Canada483,115453,3536.561Aeroméxico, Air Canada Rouge, Interjet
13Guatemala City, Guatemala475,680454,4794.661Aeroméxico, Interjet, Volaris Costa Rica
14Havana, Cuba468,884423,13510.813Aeroméxico, Cubana de Aviación, Interjet, VivaAerobus
15Orlando, USA455,747443,4652.771Aeroméxico, Interjet, Volaris
16Las Vegas, USA423,377432,9842.22Aeroméxico, Interjet, VivaAerobus, Volaris
17Atlanta, USA416,177416,5700.091Delta Air Lines
18San José, Costa Rica405,674392,1363.451Aeroméxico, Interjet, Volaris Costa Rica
19San Francisco, USA404,792436,0787.174Aeroméxico, United Airlines
20Vancouver, Canada360,060357,0290.85Aeroméxico, Air Canada, Interjet
21Amsterdam, Netherlands347,538333,9924.06Aeroméxico, KLM
22São Paulo–Guarulhos, Brazil324,830326,0230.37Aeroméxico, LATAM Brasil
23Montréal–Trudeau, Canada318,031267,12619.061Aeroméxico, Air Canada Rouge, Interjet
24San Salvador, El Salvador306,330195,43856.746Aeroméxico, Avianca El Salvador, Interjet, Volaris
25Santiago, Chile295,650289,1672.242Aeroméxico, LATAM Chile
26San Antonio, USA292,894255,47114.651Aeroméxico, Interjet, Volaris
27London–Heathrow, UK259,692252,4462.871Aeroméxico, British Airways
28Tokyo–Narita, Japan233,723219,1586.65Aeroméxico, All Nippon Airways
29Frankfurt, Germany221,581220,3460.562Lufthansa
30New York–Newark, USA214,524171,57825.031United Airlines

Inter-terminal transportation

Terminal 1 is connected to Terminal 2 by the Aerotrén monorail system in which only connecting passengers with hand baggage are allowed to use with their boarding pass. Technical and cabin crew can also use it. The distance between the terminals is. and the Airtrain's speed is. Also there is a land service between terminals called "inter-terminal transportation". These buses are located at entrance no. 6 of Terminal 1 and entrance no. 4 of Terminal 2.

Ground transportation

Metro and bus services

Terminal 1 is served by the Terminal Aérea Metro station, which belongs to Line 5 of the subway, running from Pantitlán station to Politécnico station. It is located just outside the national terminal. Also, trolley bus line G runs from the bus stop next to the Metro to Boulevard Puerto Aéreo station away, allowing transfer to Metro Line 1. Terminal 2 does not have any Metro station, but is a walk from Pantitlán served by Metro lines 1, 5, 9, A and numerous local buses.
Terminals 1 and 2 have two land terminals operating 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Different bus lines operate from here , and provide continuous transportation services to the main cities located around Mexico City, such as Córdoba, Cuernavaca, Pachuca, Puebla, Querétaro, Tlaxcala and Toluca.

Metrobús

In late 2010, former Head of Government of the Federal District Marcelo Ebrard announced a plan to build a new Metrobús Line 4 that would run from near Buenavista Station in the west of the city towards Mexico City airport. Construction on Line 4 started on July 4, 2011. The plans for Line 4 included a two-step construction process with the first operational segment to be built between Colonia Buenavista and San Lázaro Metro station. An extension provides travel between San Lázaro and the airport. The line opened on April 1, 2012 with two stations, Terminal 1 and Terminal 2.

Authorized taxis

Taxis are in operation in Terminals 1 and 2 and there are two models of service: Ordinary service in a sedan type vehicle for 4 passengers. Executive service in 8 passengers vans. At present there are 5 taxi groups in operation. These are the only taxis authorised by the Ministry of Communications and Transport of the Federal Government.

Accidents and incidents