The Mexican federal government is preparing a decree to reduce hourly operations at Mexico City’s International Airport (MEX) by almost 25%.
The number of take-offs and landings would be reduced from the current sixty-two flights per hour to around fifty. This would encourage airlines to move a greater share of their operations to the new Felipe Angeles International Airport (NLU).
Rogelio Jiménez Pons, undersecretary of transportation at the Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications, and Transportation, said the decree would be published in the coming months. “We will start with charter flights, cargo flights, new airlines… in short, everything that apparently is over the top,” the official told Expansión. “While we are thinking mainly of AIFA, Toluca can also be opened. Or we can use other alternatives.”
The government declared two months ago that the AICM terminals are saturated: Terminal 1 between 05:00 and 22:59 hours and Terminal 2 from 06:00 to 19:59 hours. With this declaration, it instructed the AICM schedules coordinator to review the allocation of landing and take-off times.
Operational Hazard
IFALPA (International Federation of Air Line Pilots’ Associations), an entity that groups around 140,000 pilots worldwide, highlighted in a May 4 statement that, in the last month, it has been notified of several incidents with aircraft arriving at AICM with fuel below minimum due to unplanned waits.
It also noted that there were several deviations due to excessive delays and several activations of the GPWS system. According to the association, in one case, an aircraft almost ended up impacting the ground.
The release goes on to mention that some crews receive clearances that do not adhere to the height restrictions set out in the charts. Proper phraseology is also not used, adding to the confusion.
Industry complaints
Cuitláhuac Gutiérrez, country manager of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), said he maintains contact with the government in search of a satisfactory solution for all parties. “We believe that any decision made about the AICM will impact the industry. There are alternatives that we can evaluate together to reach a common goal,” said the official.
For the industry representative, the pace at which operations are reduced could bring complications: “We would have to analyze how to carry out the process. A total and untimely reduction of 30% would be problematic, without a doubt, because we would have to see where these operations migrate to”.
Government plan
“The AICM has been saturated for more than 20 years. It is no longer just a problem of slots, but also of passenger traffic, since airplanes have increased in size. Two decades ago, planes had 120 seats. Now, they have more than two hundred,” said Jiménez Pons.
The official indicated that an incentive program is being worked on to motivate companies to place more flights at the new airport. “The Mexican government, together with ASA, is analyzing granting fuel discounts. We do not want to do anything forced, but we do want it to be understood that there are serious conditions that must be addressed,” the minister concluded.
