• DECISIONS: The completion of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s plan for a 3-airport system serving Mexico City is in doubt after the government’s decision delaying the buy of a majority stake in the Toluca airport and the cancellation of a third terminal at Mexico City’s International Airport (AICM).
• ANALYSIS: Planned as a substitute to the now-scrapped Texcoco Internacional Airport (NAICM) which would have served 135 million passengers a year, Mexico City’s 3-airport system is anchored on the construction of a new airport at Santa Lucia military base scheduled for completion in 2022.
• HIATUS: “Everything is on hiatus except for the Santa Lucia (airport). It was part of a system that can no longer be considered as such because the complementarity with the other airports is lacking”, said Fernando Gómez, an independent aviation industry analyst
• CAPACITY: The Santa Lucía airport would be able to handle 20 million passengers helping the overly saturated AICM, which recorded 50.3 million passengers in 2019. The López Obrador administration original plan was to maximize Toluca’s capacity up to 8 million passengers.
