The aviation industry's biggest advocate and lobby group says Mexico desperately needs a new airport-or it stands to lose copious amounts of tourism dollars, not to mention travel-related jobs.
Peter Cerda, Regional Vice President for the International Air transport Association (IATA), said earlier this week Mexico's economy could lose $20 billion and up to 20,000 jobs if a new facility is not constructed.
"What is urgently needed in Mexico is to improve the infrastructure," Cerda said at a press conference in Panama. "The impact of not building the new airport is that 20,000 million dollars ($20 billion USD) will affect gross domestic product (GDP) and there will be about 20,000 fewer jobs (in 2035)."
Forty of Mexico's 50 biggest airports have grown in passenger traffic between 2010 and 2018. Mexico City International Airport has practically doubled in passengers, going from 24.1 million in 2010 to 47.7 million in 2018.
But last year, new Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador decided to cancel the new Mexico International Airport in Texcoco, about 21 miles east of Mexico City. The new airport was already 30 percent completed.
"The previous government made the decision, with great courage, to build a new airport knowing that it would not be completed at the end of its mandate. It was a project that the industry supported 100%," Cerda said.
After the cancellation, López Obrador ordered the rehabilitation of the current airport of the city and the airport in Toluca about 43 miles from Mexico City.
"Mexico is a market with great potential, like Panama," Cerda said. "Currently, it is difficult to find new flights because the airport is at its peak, and this can have very negative economic and social consequences for the country. Because when the capital cannot grow it affects other cities that are also a point of connectivity."
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