The National Defense Secretariat (Sedena) reported that the construction of the Felipe Angeles International Airport (AIFA), as of December 27, has an overall progress of 84% and that 139,910 jobs have been created. With these data disseminated on its website, it closes 2021.
In January, the Navigation Services in the Mexican Air Space (Seneam) will receive the strategic control tower to start system tests.
Of the cost of the work, it has been said that it will not exceed 75,000 million pesos and that more than 75% has been exercised, although there is no public evidence of this or of the contracts with the various suppliers such as: Cementos Fortaleza, Cemex, DEACERO, Siemens, Novaceramic, Industrial Maderera Pliego, Pro-Barro Product, Maderas Gavilán or Grupo HS.
With a guaranteed public budget, the group of military engineers has fulfilled its mission and they have no obstacles so that on March 21, 2022, with a great party, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador inaugurates the terminal that he seeks, ideally, to attend his first year to about 19 million passengers.
The celebration will be historic. It is foreseeable that there will be a large air parade, parachute descents and several civilian and military aircraft landings to demonstrate the operability of the new infrastructure. Among the guests will be secretaries of state, ambassadors, businessmen and others.
However, only two commercial airlines will have operations from day one of operations: Volaris and VivaAerobús, so the ultra-low-cost business model will also make history.
The first reported on October 27 that it would start the AIFA-Cancun and AIFA-Tijuana routes. The second did the same on November 24, Monterrey-AIFA, Guadalajara-AIFA, since it was waited for Sedena, through the majority state-owned company Felipe Ángeles International Airport, to inform them of the operating costs .
In the case of the airport use fee (TUA), which is the charge made by the air terminals for the use of their facilities and which is included in the total cost of a ticket, the amounts disclosed by the airlines are different. : At the time Volaris estimated it at 120 pesos and VivaAerobús at 285 pesos for its domestic flights (at the Mexico City International Airport the charge during December was 510 pesos).
The TUA of the AIFA is not published on its website, as in the case of the AICM. The landing, embarkation / disembarkation platform, parking and telescopic aisle fees, necessary for an airline to make its decision to operate, are also unknown.
Volaris and VivaAerobús
Considering that the decision of the two airlines was known between four and five months before the inauguration of the AIFA, which is the minimum time required for adequate planning and marketing of the routes, it is not expected that other companies will be able to add operations in the short term. term.
Aeroméxico executives are still evaluating, in business terms, the relevance of operating in that terminal. Aeromar is in the same case, although its pilots assure that the decision has been made and they will be there.
For international airlines, at the moment there is no data, since the corresponding certifications are not yet available. Although the national ones are not there either, that will not be a problem because it is something that is the responsibility of the Federal Civil Aviation Agency (AFAC) and they will be resolved in the following weeks.
In a television interview on CNN, the director of Volaris, Enrique Beltranena, reiterated that after analyzing technically for weeks and based on his business model, he chose to start operations in Santa Lucia, because he considers that there is a potential market of almost five million of people.
“It is a business decision. The AICM is saturated and it is necessary to look for growth alternatives… The airline industry does not work alone, there are many services. If there is no airline, there are no ramp services, maintenance, restaurants … You have to take the first step and it had to be taken by the largest company in Mexico: Volaris ”, he said.
In addition, it was asked: Why don’t the people of Hidalgo have the right to air transportation in their region, as is the case in other cities in the country?
For his part, the director of VivaAerobús, Juan Carlos Zuazua, told El Economista that before thinking about new routes in the AIFA, the behavior of those that are going to start next March should be seen. Its advantage is that a sister company will offer ground transportation to the terminal from Mexico City.
Neither of the two executives has doubts about operational issues (land and air) or facilities to start their flights because they have been close to military engineers and officials from the Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation (SICT).
Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx