AICM’s paradox. Let’s turn back the clock 30 years to 1994, when Mexico City’s International Airport was a bustling single terminal facility handling, on an average monthly basis, 1.5 million passengers and 26,500 commercial operations. As this great nostalgic picture reminds us, the ramp was usually jammed packed, including the long-discontinued parking positions seen here occupied by a Continental B727-200 and Aeromexico DC9-30. The tip of two “salas móviles” (plane-mates), that ferried passengers to and from additional remote parking positions on either side of the building, can be barely recognized. The extension that added seven jetway-equipped gates in the international area was still nine years away. With the advent of the new Terminal 2 in 2008, the then 56-year old building was simply rebranded as Terminal 1.
Today the two terminals handle, on average, a combined 3.8 million monthly passengers, a hefty 148% increase vs. three decades ago, but only a mere 9% growth when isolating and comparing Terminal 1 figures. Total airport average monthly commercial operations, for their part, have actually decreased 3% during the same comparative period, a baffling and depressing figure when one stops and thinks about a third of a century having transpired.
Bottom line: The two key drivers behind AICM’s growth over these many past years have been a quantum leap in aircraft sizes and major load factor gains, within a context of pervasive airport inefficiencies made worse by political interests and misguided (and in some cases irrational) decisions. Irrespective of whether the stringent slot cap policies in effect are relaxed, as some are suggesting might be in the works (which in passing could also appease the DoT and give the AM-DL joint venture a big boost regarding the extension authorization the two airlines are seeking), AICM’s Terminal 1 -and 2 for that matter- urgently requires significant infrastructure improvements to keep up with the times, not to catch up with 1994✈️
#mexicanaviation #airports #airlines #airtransportation #aviationindustry
#afac #aicm