After the inaugural fever, the Felipe Angeles International Airport (AIFA)which required a public investment of 74,305 million pesosfaces its real challenge: to generate enough passenger demand to make a profit (from its aeronautical and non-aeronautical revenues).
Its director, Brigadier General Isidoro Pastor, has reported that, in the Development Master Planauthorized by the Federal Civil Aviation Agency (AFAC), it is contemplated that it will be in 2026 when the demand conditions will be met to cover operating expenses with income.
However, at a press conference he said that the period may be shorter due to the promotional activities carried out to attract airlines and companies to the new airport (although he did not offer details), in such a way that he trusts that: “before this administration we will be achieving the balance point and we will begin to generate profits to be returned to the public coffers”.
Meanwhile, for this year there will be no financial complications because there is an authorized federal budget of 950 million pesos.
In the projections of passenger demand of the AIFA, which were made with the support of ADP Ingénierie (a subsidiary of the Paris Airports Group, specialized in consultancy, engineering and architecture services), in its first year of operations it can reach 2.4 million passengers and in the second to 5 million.
The installed capacity of the terminal in a first stagevalid for 10 years, is to add 20 million passengers (the Mexico City International Airport served 50.3 million passengers at its best, in 2019).
Back to reality, the Secretary of National Defense (Sedena) reported that, on its first day of operations, on March 21, the AIFA transported 2,022 passengers for the 20 operations carried out: four from Aeroméxico (flying to Mérida and Villahermosa), six from Volaris (to Tijuana and Cancun), four from VivaAerobus (to Monterrey and Guadalajara), two from Conviasa (from Caracas, Venezuela), two private flights to the United States and two cargo flights.
National companies fly daily and the Venezuelan has said that it will have a frequency every 15 days.
takeoff optimism
The air analyst Carlos Torres, considered that the official estimates are very optimistic because at this time no details are known of how passenger demand and the arrival of more flights will be stimulated, for now in the domestic market.
“We do not know if it will be spontaneous or if it will occur with a new declaration of airspace saturation so that not only new flights but current ones must be moved to other airports, in this case to AIFA. Also, as long as it is not a hub for airlines, demand will take time to mature,” he explained.
An incentive, in the short term, for the federal government is that Aeromexico Group He has said that the results of the flights to Mérida are good, they could even add frequencies, but the one to Villahermosa may change its schedule to be more attractive (today it takes off at 06:30 hours).
In addition, consulted by El Economista, VivaAerobus explained: Our offer has obtained a favorable response from the market in this initial stage, operating, as in all our routes, with the highest standards in terms of safety, reliability and, of course, low prices.
In this sense, we have registered the following average occupancy factors from the first day to March 28: Guadalajara/Santa Lucía 50.6%, Santa Lucía/Guadalajara 56.5%, Monterrey/Santa Lucía 72.6% and Santa Lucía/ Monterrey 96.6 percent.
Complementary airport?
After the cancellation of texcoco airportthe 4T government began the construction of the AIFA as part of a Metropolitan Airport System, together with the AICM and the Toluca International Airport (AIT), to solve the problem of saturation in the country’s main airport.
In other words, it was proposed as a complementary terminal to the AICM, which operates in conditions of operational and physical infrastructure saturation. Due to the two years of the Covid-19 pandemic, it had a “breather” and is already in clear return to its pre-pandemic levels, so it is expected that in the following months an announcement will be made that limits flights there again.
Because AIFA is part of Sedena, knowing its operational details, planning, costs and other related issues is complicated.
Recently, through the Superior Audit of the Federation (ASF)the company learned that, according to its plans, when the AIFA comes into operation, it would serve 23.8% of the total demand originally estimated in the center of the country, the AICM 72.2%, and the AIT 4.0%.
“By 2052, according to a December 2019 study, the AIFA, in its maximum stage of operation, which is conditional on the construction of a third civil runway, will transfer 53.4% of the passengers expected for that year, therefore which would be the most important terminal in the center of the country, while the AICM would go from serving 96.9% of total user traffic in 2020, to transporting 31.7% by 2052”, it was detailed.
The low cost boom
The new airport has sufficient infrastructure for the operation of national and international airlines that currently fly around the world.
However, the builders themselves have referred that the conditions requested by the budget airlines (access by walking to the aircraft, so as not to use telescopic corridors, for example, avoiding payment).
Currently, Volaris and VivaAerobus carry out their operations this way. In addition, Brigadier General Isidoro Pastor has highlighted that the airport services paid by the airlines is 12.5% lower than the rest of other airports and the payment of the airport use fee (TUA) it is 50% lower than in the AICM, which means “a direct benefit for the passenger, not for the airline”.
The TUA can even be adjusted downward as an incentive to attract air operators (it has transpired that Delta will start flights from the AIFA in the second half of the year).
Asked about the eventual vocation of low cost and thus postpone the break-even point, Carlos Torres commented that it is “a relevant point, if the airport is born with basic services, it will be difficult in a second period to increase costs or use services that generate cost and not profitability for companies. It is an element to consider in detail.”
For now, from his point of view, the new infrastructure should be a point of connection in two directions: generate itineraries that can tie. Imagine a passenger looking for a Tijuana-AIFA flight to finally arrive in Villahermosa, to the extent that the flights can be more empathic, a natural connection center is generated. The other is with specific airline alliances.
-To generate a domestic connection, what is required?
That there be more volume of itineraries. To the extent that, as a company, you review your profitability, you have several options before canceling your flight: change the size of the aircraft, the schedule or adjust rates to make them more competitive. All of the above in close coordination with the airport.