Mexico City International Airport

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Mexico City International Airport

Aeropuerto Internacional de la Ciudad de México
Summary
Airport typePublic
OwnerGrupo Aeroportuario de la Ciudad de México
LocationMexico City, Mexico
Coordinates19°26′11″N 99°04′20″W / 19.43639°N 99.07222°W / 19.43639; -99.07222
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
05R/23L 12,795 3,900 Asphalt
05L/23R 12,966 3,952 Asphalt

The Mexico City International Airport (Spanish: Aeropuerto Internacional de la Ciudad de México or AICM), also called Benito Juárez International Airport (IATA: MEX, ICAO: MMMX) is a commercial airport that serves Mexico City, the capital of Mexico. It is Mexico's largest, busiest and most important airport. Although this was not its official name for several decades, it was formally named after the 19th century president Benito Juárez in 2006, and is Mexico's main international and domestic gateway. This hot and high airport offers direct flights to more than 100 destinations worldwide. In 2007, the airport served 25.9 million passengers [1]. In optimal conditions, and with the current renovations and expansion projects completed, the airport will be able to handle up to 32 million passengers per year[2].

AICM is Latin America's largest and busiest airport[3]. The airport houses a wide variety of options for its passengers, including a hotel inside Terminal 1 (Hilton, and two adjacent hotels: Camino Real, and Fiesta Americana). A new NH Hotel is expected to open in Terminal 2.

Lack of Capacity and Slot Restriction

The airport has suffered since the early 1990's from a lack of capacity due to the limitation of space at its surroundings, since it is located in a densely-populated area, and it has no more space for expansion. Some analysts have reported that if the airport had grown at the same speed as the demand, it would nowadays serve over 40 million passengers annually. The main issue with the airport, is the limitation that two runways provide, since they are used at a 97.3% of their maximum capacity, leaving a very short room for new operations into the airport. Even with the inauguration of new Terminal 2, the airport would be ideally designed to serve around 24 million passengers per year, according to the international standards for runway and terminal usage, instead, the airport will keep increasing the number of passengers from around 26 million passengers in the present year at a rate of 16% per year.

Remarkable Measures

On November 28, 2004, The Arizona Republic, a U.S. newspaper, published an article saying that it was remarkable that, after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Benito Juárez International Airport kept its plane spotting area open to the public, whereas a large number of airports worldwide had decided to close theirs. The Republic estimated that about 300 viewers and 100 model airplane and food sellers are attracted to the area every day. The airport's director told the newspaper that they had decided to leave the area open because it offered a free alternative for low-income families to spend the day. Nevertheless, from inside the airport facilities, it is practically impossible to get a full view of the airport, since many obstructions have been built in order to meet the airport's safety standards.

Incidents

  • It had a notable incident on October 31, 1979, when Western Airlines flight 2605 crashed while landing. The crew of the DC-10 had landed on the wrong runway and the jetliner hit construction vehicles that were on the closed runway. There were 78 fatalities ( including one on the ground ) and 14 survivors.
  • The Mexican Aero California had a runway overrun in 2006, during an intense storm at the airport. There were no victims, but the aircraft was scrapped. However, a woman died later due to a heart attack.
  • On November, 2007, an AeroMexico Boeing 757 collided with a Mexicana Airbus A318 when it had to turn around suddenly after a passenger jumped from a Lufthansa Boeing 747. There were no fatalities.

New International Airport and Current Airport Expansion

As of January 21, 2008, approved plans for a new airport were presented by the federal ministry of transportation and communications (SCT).

The new airport will be built on a 9,000-hectare lot (occupying the airport itself 990 hectares, 4,500 will serve as ecological reserve for the rehidratation of Texcoco Lake and the rest for airport expansion or facilities) at least 8 kilometres northeast of the actual Mexico City International Airport, and will be capable of handling an annual average of 60 million passengers. It will feature 3 or 4 runways (aprox. 4,600 metres in length due to the geographical location of the airport) and reserve space for future expansion. First operations are scheduled to begin by late 2012.

The airport's 4th and 5th runways will be built as demand increases, either by the passenger or cargo activities. It will be also capable of handling without problems or major limitations the largest new-generation aircraft such as Airbus A350, A380,and Boeing´s Boeing 747-8, Boeing 777-300, and Boeing 787.

The by-then former AICM will be fully disabled as an airport, but will make way for better transportation planning (including motorways and rail network, such as subway or light rail) linking the city to the new airport and viceversa. It will also boost the metropolitan´s area northeast development by offering office buildings, parks, business centres, restaurants, hotels, malls and convention centres inside the 775 hectares of the current airport.

Because plans for a new airport ( either in Texcoco (State of Mexico) or Tizayuca (Hidalgo) were floated by the government in 2001 and 2002 and were later shelved due to resistance from local farmers dissatisfied with the price offered for their land, the AICM (Aeropuerto Internacional de la Ciudad de México) has undergone major construction work, comprising the following:

  • Terminal 1 - Domestic Building
    • Renovation of interiors, including the enlargement of the land-side corridor and a new level to increase the flow, add more room for businesses and banks, and the direct connection to the International Hall.
    • Renovation of the external facade, including an innovative wave-like rooftop which provides more light to the terminal.
    • Remodeling of AeroMexico's and Mexicana's domestic check-in counters, including expansions and more space for their increasing operations.
    • New hall on the landside of the domestic check-in areas.
    • Expansion of airside Hall B.
    • Introduction of 4 baggage-claim conveyors at Hall C2.
  • Terminal 1 - International Building
    • Renovation of interiors with a contemporary urban-style architecture.
    • Relocation of check-in areas, all airlines serving international destinations were moved to three new areas, F1 for SkyTeam member airlines, F2 for Star Alliance member airlines and Mexicana, and F3 for the remaining companies.
    • Division of arrivals and departures on different levels.
    • New J corridors connecting the H concourse to the F check-in areas.
    • New Duty Free shopping areas on the J corridor.
    • Construction of a new baggage-claiming areas with 14 conveyors at halls E3 and E4.
    • New migration areas, including the division of passengers according to their procedence (M1 and M2).
    • Renovation of the building's exterior facade with urban-style architecture and materials.

The airport will be able to compete with world's major airports, as to offer any service available at an airport. The construction of Terminal 2, means the introduction of a new kind of service in the country, since it will be, together with Monterrey's Terminal A, Mexico's most modern air facility, as the introduction of inter-terminal transportation in Mexico City. After Terminal 2 is fully operative, airplanes landing on the right runways will use the right terminal, and viceversa, reducing by almost 10 minutes, the time per airplane from its landing to the parking at the contact position.

When the major construction works end, the airport will have 62 boarding gates, as well as 45 remote positions, for a total of 107 parking positions for aircraft serving the airport.

Terminals 1 and 2 are connected by a light-rail train (Aerotren) that operates in a single direction every 12 minutes between both terminals. The train is to be used by passengers with connecting flights that have at least two hours between flights. Passengers with shorter connecting times will use the free bus service (Aerocar) provided between both terminals on a continuous basis.

Terminals, Airlines and Destinations

Terminal 1

Domestic Building (Gates A1-E19)

  • Hall A2
    • Aero California (Chihuahua, Ciudad Juárez, Ciudad Obregón, Colima, Culiacán, Durango, Guadalajara, Hermosillo, La Paz, Los Mochis, Mazatlán, Mérida, Monterrey, Tepic, Tijuana, Torreón, Veracruz)
  • Hall B
    • Mexicana (Acapulco, Cancún, Culiacán, Guadalajara, Los Cabos, Mazatlán, Mexicali, Minatitlán/Coatzacoalcos, Monterrey, Oaxaca, Puerto Vallarta, Tampico, Tijuana, Veracruz, Zacatecas)
      • Click Mexicana (Aguascalientes, Cancún, Chetumal, Ciudad del Carmen, Ciudad Victoria [Ends January 31, 2008], Colima, Cozumel, Guadalajara, Huatulco, Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo, León, Manzanillo, Mérida, Nuevo Laredo, Oaxaca, Puerto Escondido, Reynosa, Saltillo, San Luis Potosí, Torreón, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Villahermosa)
  • Hall C
    • Aviacsa (Acapulco, Cancún, Chetumal, Ciudad Juárez, Culiacán, Guadalajara, Hermosillo, Mérida, Mexicali, Monterrey, Oaxaca, Puerto Vallarta, Tampico, Tapachula, Tijuana, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Veracruz, Villahermosa)
  • Hall D
    • Magnicharters (Cancún, Huatulco, Ixtapa/Zihuatanjeo, Los Cabos, Manzanillo, Mérida, Monterrey)
    • Nova Air (Cancún, Huatulco, Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo, Manzanillo, Puerto Vallarta) Charter Flights
    • Aladia (Cancún)

International Building (Gates F20-H36-A)

File:12-05oaxaca163.jpg
Terminal 1 International Area. In the far west an Aeroméxico Boeing 757
Popular plane spotting area, open to the public, within a few meters of taxiway. In the right side a Fokker F100 tail of Click Mexicana
  • Hall F2
    • Air Canada (Montréal, Toronto-Pearson)
    • Alaska Airlines (Los Angeles)
    • Lufthansa (Frankfurt)
    • Mexicana (Bogotá, Buenos Aires-Ezeiza, Calgary [begins June 1], Caracas, Chicago-O'Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth, Denver, Guatemala City, Havana, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Montréal, New York-JFK, Panama City, Portland (OR), San Antonio, San Francisco, San José (CR), San Salvador, Sacramento, Toronto-Pearson, Vancouver)
    • United Airlines (Chicago-O'Hare, Denver [seasonal], Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington-Dulles)

Terminal 2

Domestic Concourse (Gates 63-75)

  • Hall A1
    • Aeromar (Acapulco, Aguascalientes, Celaya, Ciudad Victoria, Colima, Jalapa, Lázaro Cárdenas, Manzanillo, Minatitlán/Coatzacoalcos, Monterrey, Morelia, Poza Rica, Queretaro, Reynosa, San Luis Potosí, Tepic, Uruapan, Zacatecas)
  • Hall A2
    • Aeroméxico (Aguascalientes, Cancún, Chihuahua, Ciudad Juárez, Culiacán, Guadalajara, Hermosillo, Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo, La Paz, León, Los Cabos, Mazatlán, Monterrey, Puerto Vallarta, Reynosa, Tijuana, Torreón, Villahermosa)
      • Aeroméxico Connect (Acapulco, Campeche, Ciudad del Carmen, Ciudad Obregón, Durango, Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo, La Paz, Los Mochis, Matamoros, Minatitlán/Coatzacoalcos, Morelia, Oaxaca, Poza Rica, Reynosa, Tampico, Tapachula, Torreón, Veracruz)

International Concourse (Gates 50-62)

  • Hall A3
    • Aeroméxico (Atlanta, Barcelona, Buenos Aires-Ezeiza, Chicago-O'Hare, Houston-Intercontinental, Las Vegas, Lima, Los Angeles, Madrid, Managua, Miami, New York-JFK, Orlando, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Ontario (CA), Phoenix, Rome-Fiumicino [Begins March 07, 2008], San Antonio, San Diego, San Pedro Sula, Santiago de Chile, São Paulo-Guarulhos, Seattle/Tacoma, Shanghai-Pudong [Begins April 08, 2008], Tokyo-Narita)
    • Continental Airlines [Pending their moving for problems of dispatch]
    • Copa Airlines (Panama City)
    • Delta Air Lines (Atlanta, New York-JFK, Orlando, Salt Lake City)
    • LAN Airlines (Santiago de Chile)

Former Airlines/Destinations

Cargo Terminal

Metro and Bus Service

The airport is served by the Terminal Aérea Metro station, located just outside the national terminal; it also has a Bus Terminal, which is served by various bus lines [1] with routes to Cuernavaca, Puebla, Querétaro, Toluca, Pachuca, and Córdoba. Whilst the airport always had a bus area, the terminal building itself was created in 2003, to accommodate the many passengers that utilise bus service.

References

  1. ^ Passenger statistics for 2007 (In spanish) http://www.aicm.com.mx/acercadelaicm_en/AICMinforma/index.php?Publicacion=82
  2. ^ Airport capacity (In spanish) http://www.aicm.com.mx/acercadelaicm_en/AICMinforma/index.php?Publicacion=82
  3. ^ World's busiest airports (May 2006 - May 2007) http://www.aicm.com.mx/acercadelaicm/Estadisticas/index.php?Publicacion=169


External links

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