Mexico City International Airport (AICM) faces a further reduction in operations. The measure, issued by the Federal Civil Aviation Agency (AFAC), contemplates setting the maximum number of landings and takeoffs at 43 per hour, a decrease of almost 20% with nine operations compared to the current ceiling of 52, set by the civil aviation authority in September 2022. The cut, which will take effect from October 29 in the face of the arrival of the winter season, aims to alleviate the saturation of the main aerodrome of the Mexican capital, a complex located east of the capital whose two terminals, the busiest in Latin America, transport 46 million users a year.
The saturation of operations has haunted the AICM for almost a decade. In September 2014, the civil aviation authority declared its airfield congested and limited the number of operations per hour to 61. Last March, AFAC established a new limit of 52 landings and takeoffs per hour, in addition to prohibiting the opening of new routes from Benito Juárez. In an interview granted to this newspaper a couple of weeks ago, Carlos Velázquez, director of the AICM, said that the last reduction did not work to correct the problem and estimated that the aerodrome will far exceed the number of people transported compared to 2022. "Last year we reduced slots from 61 to 52, with the sole objective of reducing saturation. But what did the airlines do, they put bigger planes in and then it didn't work, it wasn't even corrected, it got worse and this year, we're probably going to reach 52 million people. Last year there were 46 million and this terminal can no longer support so many people and that is why measures are being taken in this regard, "he said.
The new reduction and the haste of its entry into force leave in suspense thousands of flights scheduled and offered by the airlines that operate from the AICM from October 29. In this regard, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the National Chamber of Air Transport (Canaero) spoke out against the new limit of operations and called for alternatives to avoid affecting national and international consumers. "The underlying problem in the AICM is not the capacity of operations per hour, but the age of the infrastructure that requires a greater intervention," Canaero explained in a statement, in which he states, "the underlying problem of the AICM is that the resources it generates are destined for purposes other than its operation and maintenance."
In the last year, the Government has redoubled efforts in order to decongest the airport: in February 2023, a decree closed the AICM for cargo flights, forcing the transfer of operations to Felipe Angeles International Airport (AIFA). A month later, the authorities ordered to regularize the gap between commercial and official hours of the airlines. In addition, at the beginning of August, the management of the AICM rescinded the contracts that allowed Aeromexico to operate in Terminal 1, a measure that forces the airline to move all its landings and takeoffs to Terminal 2 from September, two months before the new reduction of operations.
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