Mexico City International Airport

Mexico City International Airport Aeropuerto Internacional de la Ciudad de México
IATA: MEX – ICAO: MMMX
Summary
Airport type		Civil
Owner		Grupo Aeroportuario de la Ciudad de México
Serves		Mexico City, Mexico
Hub for		Aeromexico Interjet Mexicana
Elevation AMSL		7,316 ft / 2,230 m
Coordinates		19°26′10″N 099°04′19″W / 19.43611°N 99.07194°W / 19.43611; -99.07194
Website		www.aicm.com.mx
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
	m	ft
05R/23L	3,900	12,795	Asphalt
05L/23R	3,952	12,966	Asphalt
Statistics (2008)
Aircraft operations			366,561
Passengers			26,210,217
Cargo tonnage			376,091
Source: DAFIF[1][2]

Mexico City International Airport (Spanish: Aeropuerto Internacional de la Ciudad de México or AICM), also called Benito Juárez International Airport (IATA: MEX, ICAO: MMMX) is a commercial airport that serves Mexico City, the capital of Mexico. It is Mexico's and Latin America's busiest. Although this was not its official name for several decades, it was formally named after the 19th century president Benito Juárez in 2006, and is Mexico's main international and domestic gateway. In recent years Toluca airport has become a major alternate airport.

This hot and high airport offers direct flights to more than 100 destinations worldwide. In 2008, the airport served 26,210,217 passengers. In optimal conditions, and with the current renovations and expansion projects completed, the Benito Juárez airport will be able to handle up to 32 million passengers per year.^[3]. It provides non-stop services from Mexico City to North America, Central America and Caribbean, South America, Europe and Asia.

As the main hub for Mexico's largest airline Aeroméxico and a secondary hub for its subsidiary Aeroméxico Connect, the airport has become a SkyTeam hub. In addition, the airport is slated to become a Oneworld hub once Mexicana joins the alliance.

AICM is Latin America's busiest airport.^[4] The airport houses a wide variety of lodging options for its passengers, including hotels inside Terminal 1 (the Hilton Hotel, the Camino Real, and the Fiesta Inn), also a NH Hotel at Terminal 2.

History

The airport first opened as Balbuena Military Airport. The first landing was on November 5, 1928 and regular service started a year later, but was officially inaugurated on May 15, 1931. Its first international route was to Los Angeles International Airport operated by Mexicana. President Miguel Aleman opened the terminal in 1952, officially disappearing the Balbuena Military Airport. In 1980, the terminal was expanded to duplicate its capacity, using a single terminal concept rather than multiple terminals as in other airports. Ten years later in 1990, the mixed domestic international gates were separated to increase the terminal's functionality, along with the separation of domestic and international check-in halls.

In 2001, the east wing of the terminal was opened, being an international last wait area and was mainly used by SkyTeam members. Former president Vicente Fox launched a program called Expansion of Mexico City Airport to its Maximum Capacity in 2002 to increase the airport's capabilities. The whole terminal was expanded and upgraded with new check-in halls, 13 more baggage claim belts, the separation of the terminal into Departures and Arrivals floors, construction of several new taxiways and a whole new terminal at the other side of the airport, breaking the single terminal concept but the only way to relief the saturated terminal 1. The project was started with an initial investment of $200,000,000 MXP. Nevertheless, its final cost was $800,000,000 MXP. Old Terminal 2 which only housed Aeromar's operations in and out the airport was demolished, and the new terminal was built in less than two years.

On November 15, 2007, terminal 2 was opened, increasing the airport's operational capability in a 40% more. All SkyTeam members moved their operations to it, except Air France and KLM. It was officially inaugurated on March 2008, once the new road accesses and taxiways were finished. Terminal 2 increased the airport's contact positions by 40%, and the operational capacity by 15%. Terminal 2 is connected to the Domestic Building of Terminal 1 by the Aerotrén monorail system, by which a transfer between both buildings is possible in less than 7 minutes.

Lack of capacity and slot restriction

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Terminal 1

Terminal 2

The airport has suffered since the early 1990s from a lack of capacity due to the limitation of space at its surroundings, since it is located in a densely-populated area and has no more space for expansion. Some analysts have reported that if the airport were to have grown at the same speed as demand, it would now serve over 40 million passengers annually. The main issue with the airport is the limitation that its two runways provide, since they are used at 97.3% of their maximum capacity, leaving a very short room for new operations into the airport. Only government, military and commercial aircraft are allowed to land at the airport. Private aircraft must use alternate airports, such as Lic. Adolfo Lopez Mateos International Airport in Toluca, General Mariano Matamoros Airport in Cuernavaca or Hermanos Serdán International Airport in Puebla. Even with the inauguration of new Terminal 2, the airport would be ideally designed to serve around 18 million passengers per year, according to the international standards for runway and terminal usage. Instead, the airport will keep increasing the number of passengers from around 26 million passengers in the present year at a rate of 16% per year.

Report of plane spotting area by U.S. newspaper

On November 28, 2004, The Arizona Republic, a U.S. newspaper, published an article saying that it was remarkable that, after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Benito Juárez International Airport kept its plane spotting area open to the public, whereas a large number of airports worldwide had decided to close theirs. The Republic estimated that about 300 viewers and 100 model airplane and food sellers are attracted to the area every day. The airport's director told the newspaper that they had decided to leave the area open because it offered a free alternative for low-income families to spend the day. Nevertheless, from inside the airport facilities, it is practically impossible to get a full view of the airport, since many obstructions have been built in order to meet the airport's safety standards.

Accidents and Incidents

• On October 31, 1979, Western Airlines Flight 2605 crash-landed. The crew of the DC-10 had landed on the wrong runway and the jetliner hit construction vehicles that were on the closed runway. There were 78 fatalities (including one on the ground) and 14 survivors.
• An Aero California DC-9-15 overran in 2006, during an intense storm at the airport. There were no victims, but the aircraft was scrapped. However, a woman died later due to a heart attack.^{[citation needed]}
• On September 9, 2009, hijacked Aeroméxico Flight 576 landed at Mexico City International Airport from Cancun International Airport.
• On September 13, 2009, Lufthansa Cargo McDonnell-Douglas MD-11 D-ALCO was severely damaged in a heavy landing. Post landing inspection revealed that there were wrinkles in the fuselage skin and the nose gear was bent. It is reported that the aircraft may be written off.^[5]

Airport Specifications

Terminal Layout before T2

Terminal layout after T2 was built

Mexicana A320 at Terminal 1

Terminal 1

• Opened in 1958; expanded in 1970, 1989, 1998, 2000 and 2004
• Overall terminal surface: 548,000 sq meters
• Contact positions: 33
• Remote positions: 20 (34 Before New T2 was built)
• Number of jetways: 32
• Number of airside halls: 10 (A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J)
• Number of landside (check-in) halls: 9 (A1, A2, B, C, D, D1, F1, F2, F3)
• Number of mobile-lounges: 11 (A7-A, A7-B, A7-C, A9-A, A9-B, A9-C, A9-D, A9-E, F19-A, F19-C, F19-D)
• Hotel service: 600 rooms (Camino Real), 110 rooms (Hilton)
• Parking service: 3,100 vehicles (Domestic), 2,400 vehicles (International)
• Space per passenger in T1: 17 sq meters
• Number of baggage claiming carousels: 22
• Premium Lounges in T1: Salón Premier Internacional T1 (Aeroméxico), Red Carpet Club (United Airlines), Admirals Club (American Airlines), American Express Lounge (American Express), Elite Lounge Nacional (Mexicana), Elite Lounge Internacional (Mexicana).

Terminal 2

• Opened in 2007
• Overall terminal surface: 242,000 sq meters
• Contact positions: 23
• Remote positions: 17 (Aeromar and Aeromexico Connect)
• Number of jetways: 23
• Number of airside halls: 2 (Domestic, International)
• Number of landside (check-in) halls: 3 (L1, L2, L3)
• Hotel service: 287 rooms (NH)
• Parking service: 3,000 vehicles
• Space per passenger in T2: 22 sq meters
• Number of baggage claiming carousels: 15
• Premium Lounges in T2: Club Diamante (Aeromar), Salón Premier (Aeroméxico), Salón Premier Internacional T2 (Aeroméxico), Riedel Wine Room (Aeroméxico) , Travel Pass Elite Lounge (Banamex) .
• Platform surface: 426,000 sq meters
• Inter-terminal Aerotrén capacity: 7,800 daily passengers

Terminal 2 is now housing all Aeroméxico flights out of the airport, becoming the airlines's main distribution center. Although the terminal was intended to be served by all-SkyTeam member airlines, Air France and KLM are not moving their operations until the new cargo terminal is built aside Terminal 2, since the existing one is at the other side of the airport.

Traffic Statistics

External façade of Terminal 2

Terminal 2 Hall L3 Entrance

Terminal 2 Hall L3 Check-in Counters

Terminal 2 Hall L2 in the foreground, Hall 1 in the far background

Busiest International Routes out of Mexico City International Airport (2008) ^[6]

Rank	City	Passengers
1	Los Angeles, California	428,466
2	New York, New York (JFK)	307,332
3	Houston, Texas	303,413
4	Miami, Florida	280,897
5	Madrid, Spain	254,429
6	Dallas, Texas	230,906
7	Paris, France	223,128
8	Chicago, Illinois	218,840
9	Atlanta, Georgia	158,339
10	Panama, Panama	134,819
11	Guatemala City, Guatemala	117,248
12	Bogota, Colombia	113,710
13	Toronto, Canada	112,375
14	Frankfurt, Germany	109,585
15	Amsterdam, Netherlands	94,737

Busiest Domestic Routes out of Mexico City International Airport (2008) ^[7]

Rank	City	Passengers
1	Monterrey, Nuevo León	1,528,200
2	Cancún, Quintana Roo	1,197,467
3	Guadalajara, Jalisco	1,020,813
4	Tijuana, Baja California	624,910
5	Mérida, Yucatán	568,904
6	Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas	526,801
7	Acapulco, Guerrero	449,999
8	Villahermosa, Tabasco	434,625
9	Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco	417,161
10	Culiacán, Sinaloa	407,431

Terminals, airlines and destinations

Cargo Terminal

(*)Airlines that provides on-demand cargo services.

See also

• List of the busiest airports in Mexico

Ground transportation

Individuals aircraft spotting from a spot adjacent the taxiways

Metro and bus services

The airport is served by the Terminal Aérea Metro station, located just outside the national terminal; it also has a Bus Terminal, which is served by various bus lines [1] with routes to Cuernavaca, Puebla, Querétaro, Toluca, Pachuca, and Córdoba. Whilst the airport always had a bus area, the terminal building itself was created in 2003, to accommodate the many passengers that utilise bus service.

References

External links

• Mexico City International Airport
  • Photo Gallery of Mexico City International Airport
• Aeropuertos y Servicios Auxiliares Homepage
  • New Terminal 2 Video
• Information about Mexico City Airport
• Current weather for MMMX at NOAA/NWS
• Accident history for MEX at Aviation Safety Network