Airport Mexico City (Mexico) - International
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 largest, busiest and most important airport. 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. This hot and high airport offers direct flights to more than 100 destinations worldwide. In 2007, the airport served 25.9 million passengers [3]. In optimal conditions, and with the current renovations and expansion projects completed, the airport will be able to handle up to 32 million passengers per year[4].
Being the main distribution center for Mexico's largest airline Aeroméxico and a secondary hub for its subsidiary Aeroméxico Connect, the airport has become a SkyTeam hub, which represents that it is not only an Origin/Destination (O/D) airport, but a connection point between South America and North America, North America and Europe, South America and Europe, South America and Asia, as well as a connecting airport for flights within Mexico and for international passengers with a destination other than Mexico City. The construction of Terminal 2 created a space where passengers can fly Aeroméxico or any SkyTeam member airline operating into the airport to any destination served from any other, similar to Air France's Terminal 2 in Charles de Gaulle International Airport in Paris, France. When Mexicana becomes part of Oneworld it will again bring more transit passengers to the airport, this time to Terminal 1, where the Oneworld member airlines (except LAN Airlines) operate from.
AICM is Latin America's largest and busiest airport[5]. The airport houses a wide variety of options for its passengers, including a hotel inside Terminal 1 (Hilton, and two adjacent hotels: Camino Real, and Fiesta Inn). A new NH Hotel is expected to open in Terminal 2.
Lack of Capacity, Slot Restriction and Recent Expansions
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 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. 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.
Since the year 2000, the federal government has been trying to maximize the operational capacity if the airport. Former president Vicente Fox Quesada launched a program called Expansion of Mexico City Airport to its Maximum Capacity to expand the airport terminal and operational-wise to its largest extent possible. Several taxiways were planned and built, as well as the expansion and complete remodeling of Terminal 1, demolishing of Old Terminal 2, and finally the construction of New Terminal 2 at the other side of the largest terminal.
In 2005, the airport management together with the federal government decided to build a new terminal at the other side of the airport, in order to take advantage of all possible space inside the airport's borders. Old Terminal 2 which only housed Aeromar's operations in and out the airport was demolished, and a whole new terminal was built in less than two years. 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.
Criticism 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.
Incidents
- It had a notable incident on October 31, 1979, when Western Airlines Flight 2605 crashed while landing. 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.
- The Mexican airline Aero California had a runway overrun 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]
- In November, 2007, an AeroMexico Boeing 757-200 collided with a Mexicana Airbus A318 when it had to turn around suddenly after a passenger jumped from a Lufthansa Boeing 747-400. There were no fatalities.[citation needed]
- In January, 2008 an AeroMexico Boeing 777-200 bound to Madrid got into a big mud hole, with no more consequences than some failures on the aircraft.
- In February, 2008, another AeroMexico Boeing 777-200 bound to Sao Paulo had a wing strike a post after taxiing from Terminal 2.
Airport Specifications
Terminal 1 (Built in 1958, expanded in 1970, 1989, 1998, 2000, and 2004)
- Overall terminal surface: 548,000 sq meters
- Contact positions: 33
- Remote positions: 30 (44 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), Salón Ejecutivo Nacional (Mexicana), Salón Ejecutivo Internacional (Mexicana).
Old Terminal 2 (Built in 2001)
- Overall terminal surface: 3,680 sq meters
- Contact positions: 3
- Remote positions: 6
- Number of jetways: None
- Number of airside halls: 1
- Number of landside (check-in) halls: 1 (A)
- Hotel service: None
- Parking service: 140 vehicles
- Space per passenger in T2: 14 sq meters
- Number of baggage claiming carousels: 2
- Premium Lounges in T2: Club Diamante (Aeromar).
New Terminal 2 (Built in 2007)
- Overall terminal surface: 242,000 sq meters
- Contact positions: 24
- Remote positions: 13
- Number of jetways: 23
- Number of airside halls: 2 (Domestic, International)
- Number of landside (check-in) halls: 3 (L1, L2, L3)
- Hotel service: 300 rooms (NH)
- Parking service: 3,000 vehicles
- Space per passenger in T2: 22 sq meters
- Number of baggage claiming carousels: 14
- Premium Lounges in T2: Salón Premier (Aeroméxico), Salón Premier Internacional T2 (Aeroméxico), Riedel Wine Room (Aeroméxico).
- Platform surface: 426,000 sq meters
- Inter-terminal Aerotrén capacity: 7,800 daily passengers
Terminals and Destinations
Terminal 1 (T1)
Domestic Building (Gates A1 to E18)
Will soon house some Mexicana operations (Under construction).
- Hall B
- Mexicana (Acapulco, Cancún, Culiacán, Guadalajara, Los Cabos, Mazatlán, Mexicali, Monterrey, Tijuana, Zacatecas)
- Click Mexicana (Aguascalientes, Chetumal, Ciudad del Carmen, Cozumel, Guadalajara, Huatulco, Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo, León, Los Cabos, Manzanillo, Mérida, Minatitlán/Coatzacoalcos, Nuevo Laredo, Oaxaca, Puerto Escondido, Puerto Vallarta, Reynosa, Saltillo, San Luis Potosí, Tampico, Torreón, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Veracruz, Villahermosa)
- Hall C
- Aviacsa (Acapulco, Cancún, Chetumal, Ciudad Juárez, Guadalajara, Hermosillo, Mérida, Monterrey, Oaxaca, Puerto Vallarta, Tampico, Tapachula, Tijuana, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Veracruz, Villahermosa)
- Hall D
- Aladia (Cancún)
- Interjet (Cancun, Ciudad del Carmen, Guadalajara, Monterrey, Tampico, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Veracruz)
- Magnicharters (Cancún, Huatulco, Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo, Los Cabos, Manzanillo, Mérida, Monterrey, Puerto Vallarta)
International Building (Gates F19 to H36-A)
- Hall F2 (Star Alliance Facility)
- Air Canada (Montréal, Toronto-Pearson)
- Alaska Airlines (Los Angeles)
- Lufthansa (Frankfurt)
- Mexicana (Bogotá, Buenos Aires-Ezeiza, Calgary, Caracas, Chicago-O'Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth, Denver, Edmonton, Guatemala City, Havana, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Montréal, New York-JFK, Panama City, San Antonio, San Francisco, San José (CR), San Salvador, Sacramento, Toronto-Pearson, Vancouver)
- United Airlines (Los Angeles [ends September 2; begins December 19], San Francisco, Washington-Dulles)
Terminal 2 (T2)
Terminal 2 is now housing all Aeroméxico flights out of the airport, becoming the airline's main distribution center. Although the terminal was intended to be served by all-Sky Team 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.
Airlines and Destinations (Gates 50 to 75-F)
- Hall L2
- Aeroméxico (Atlanta, Barcelona, Buenos Aires-Ezeiza, Chicago-O'Hare, Detroit [ends October 14], Houston-Intercontinental, Las Vegas, Lima, Los Angeles, Madrid, Miami, New York-JFK, Ontario (CA), Orlando, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Phoenix, Rome-Fiumicino, San Antonio, San Diego, Santiago de Chile, São Paulo-Guarulhos, Seattle/Tacoma, Shanghai-Pudong, Tokyo-Narita)
- Hall L3
- Aeromar (Acapulco, Aguascalientes, Ciudad Victoria, Colima, Jalapa, Lázaro Cárdenas, Manzanillo, Minatitlán/Coatzacoalcos, Morelia, Oaxaca, Poza Rica, Queretaro, San Luis Potosí, Tamuín, Tepic, Uruapan, Zacatecas)
- Aeroméxico (Acapulco, Aguascalientes, Cancún, Chihuahua, Ciudad Juárez, Culiacán, Guadalajara, Hermosillo, Huatulco, Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo, León/El Bajío, Los Cabos, Mazatlán, Mérida, Monterrey, Puerto Vallarta, Reynosa, Tijuana, Torreón, Villahermosa)
- Aeroméxico Connect (Acapulco, Campeche, Cd. del Carmen, Ciudad Obregón, Durango, Guadalajara, Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo, La Paz, Los Mochis, Matamoros, Mazatlán, Mérida, Minatitlán/Coatzacoalcos, Monterrey, Morelia, Oaxaca, Poza Rica, Reynosa, Tampico, Tapachula, Torreón, Veracruz, Villahermosa)
- Aeroméxico Travel (Cancún, Cozumel, Huatulco, Mazatlán, Puerto Vallarta)
- Copa Airlines (Panama City)
Former airlines/destinations
Domestic
International
- Aeroflot (Havana, Moscow-Sheremetyevo)
- Aeronica (Managua)
- Aeroperú (Lima)
- Aerolineas Argentinas (Buenos Aires-Ezeiza)[Restarts December,08]
- Air Panama (Panama City)
- Braniff (Dallas)
- CityBird (Brussels)
- CP Air (Toronto-Pearson, Windsor, Vancouver, Montreal, Lima, Santiago de Chile, Buenos Aires)
- Czech Airlines (Havana, Prague) (codeshare with Aeromexico)
- Eastern Air Lines (Atlanta, New Orleans, New York - JFK International)
- El Al (Montreal, Geneva, Tel Aviv) (codeshare with Aeromexico)
- Ecuatoriana de Aviación (Guayaquil, Quito, Los Ángeles)
- Interflug (Berlin, Moscow, Frankfurt)
- Lloyd Aereo Boliviano (Guayaquil, Panama City, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, La Paz (Bolivia))
- Ladeco (Santiago de Chile)
- Líneas Aéreas Paraguayas (Asunción)
- Malaysia Airlines (Kuala Lumpur, Los Angeles, Taipei-Taiwan Taoyuan)
- OceanAir (São Paulo-Guarulhos)
- Pan Am (Houston, Tampa, Miami)
- Qantas (Sydney) (codeshare with Mexicana)
- Sabena (Brussels, Montreal)
- Tan Sahsa (Tegucigalpa)
- TWA (New Orleans, St Louis)
- Varig (Manaus, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo)
- Viasa (Caracas)
- Western (Los Angeles)
Cargo terminal
Ground transportation
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
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