AIFA’s passenger volume is up 12% this year as airport targets 9M by 2026

Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA) has moved much than 7 cardinal passengers this year, a 12% leap implicit past year, which has taken the Mexico City area’s 2nd planetary airdrome to 17 cardinal passengers served since it began operations successful March of 2022.

In a connection to reporters, Isidoro Pastor Román, caput of the airport, said that AIFA’s Master Development Plan projects serving 9 cardinal passengers by 2026, arsenic the World Cup is expected to bring tens of thousands of further passengers to the airport.

Copa Airlines is 1 of lone 3 carriers operating internationally retired of AIFA, aft the U.S. barred flights retired of AIFA by Viva and Aeroméxico. (Copa Airlines/X)

“Dedicated flights for nationalist teams, arsenic good arsenic concern travelers with backstage planes, volition beryllium arriving astatine AIFA,” Pastor said.

AIFA’s rider number is expected to scope the 7 cardinal milestone for 2025 contempt the cancellation of 11 planetary routes by a unilateral enactment by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) — two for Aeromexico and 9 for Viva Aerobus. This cancellation has eliminated immoderate 84,000 passengers this year, Pastor said. 

Although the fig represents a comparatively tiny proportionality of the airport’s wide rider volume, its interaction is applicable arsenic the canceled routes impact planetary flights, which are a cardinal constituent of the airport’s connectivity.

As of today, lone 3 planetary airlines run astatine AIFA: Copa Airlines, Arajet and Conviasa. These carriers connection planetary routes to Santo Domingo and Punta Cana successful the Dominican Republic, Bogotá successful Colombia and Caracas, Venezuela. Pastor said that a charter formation besides occasionally flies to Sofia, Bulgaria, with the institution GullivAir.

According to Pastor, President Claudia Sheinbaum volition enactment towards recovering the canceled routes adjacent year. 

“The challenges for adjacent twelvemonth are reflected successful the efforts of President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo to reconstruct the planetary routes that were canceled during this period,” Pastor said successful the statement. “We anticipation to retrieve these routes by 2026, which volition assistance america summation the fig of passengers that we person outlined successful the document.”

Another situation AIFA has faced — its 35-kilometer region from downtown Mexico City — should beryllium resolved soon. The long-awaited Lechería-AIFA bid to instrumentality passengers to and from the airdrome is acceptable to beryllium concluded by the extremity of March adjacent year, successful clip for Holy Week, different dense tourism period. 

With reports from La Jornada