Andrés Manuel López Obrador asks airlines for help to increase the number of flights to the new airport of México City

This article was translated from our Spanish edition using AI technologies. Errors may exist due to this process.

The effervescence of the inauguration has been left behind and a month after starting operations, the Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA) in Mexico City has little activity. Built with the objective of reducing saturation at the Mexico City International Airport (AICM), the new facilities register an average of only six daily flights for an approximate total of 180 monthly flights. In comparison, the AICM carries out an average of 898 operations every day, for a total of 27,324 per month (an annual total of 317,889 in 2021, according to figures presented by the Ministry of Communications and Transportation ).

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Faced with the reality of the new airport, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador declared in his morning conference today that he has asked the owners of the airlines to increase their domestic flights that depart from and arrive at the new air base. The president said he had spoken with Eduardo Tricio , president of Aeroméxico looking to increase the number of operations to AIFA: “He told me that they had already extended one to Vallarta, they had one from Villahermosa that is pending, that there were not many passengers. In the case of Villahermosa, I already told you that the flight leaves very early, the return flight does have enough passage and the one from Mérida very well”.

López Obrador added that he has also asked the directors of Volaris and Viva Aerobus for their collaboration: “We are going to try to get more lines, that there are more flights, we are also looking for more to Toluca. We already have the infrastructure that is required. A problem that we inherited has already been resolved… now we need to complement things”.

The routes currently operating in the AIFA are: Puerto Vallarta and Mérida (operated by Aeroméxico), Tijuana and Cancún (operated by Volaris); and Guadalajara and Monterrey (operated by Viva Aerobus). The route to Villahermosa that was originally operated by Aeroméxico was replaced by the one to Puerto Vallarta given the low number of passengers that used it (an average of 20 people per flight).

Since its inception, the AIFA has been surrounded by controversy and skepticism. Upon his arrival in power, AMLO carried out a citizen consultation that led to the cancellation of the New Mexico City International Airport (NAIM) project that was being built in the Texcoco area, to make way for the construction of the AIFA. The problem is that the new air port is far from the city and getting to it is not easy and it is expensive.