Getting to the new Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA) from central Mexico City will take much longer than traveling to the capital’s existing airport, but check-in times will be shorter, the general director of the AIFA said Thursday.
Army General Isidoro Pastor presented a table at President López Obrador’s morning press conference that showed that the travel time between the World Trade Center (WTC) in the Nápoles neighborhood and the AIFA – located 50 kilometers north of the capital – is one hour and 15 minutes, while getting to the Mexico City International Airport (AICM) from the WTC takes just 27 minutes.
He noted that passengers are currently asked to arrive at airports in Mexico two hours before a domestic flight and three hours before an international one.
However, passengers flying out of the AIFA will be able to arrive just one hour prior to a national flight and two hours before an international one thanks to “technological developments” that will reduce check-in times at the new airport, Pastor said.
The combined travel time/check-in-and-waiting time for a passenger traveling to the AIFA from the WTC for a domestic flight will thus be two hours and 15 minutes, whereas for a passenger departing from the AICM it’s 12 minutes longer at two hours and 27 minutes.
The combined travel time/check-in-and-waiting time is shorter for AIFA passengers traveling from 11 other points in the Mexico City metropolitan area including the National Auditorium, Santa Fe, the four main bus terminals and the Indios Verdes Metro station, according to the table presented by Pastor, whereas it is exactly the same for passengers traveling to the AIFA or the AICM from the Cuatro Caminos Metro station, also known as Toreo.
“In all cases with the exception of the route from Toreo, we have minutes in our favor,” the AIFA director said.
“In other words, the longer time it will take you to travel to the Felipe Ángeles Airport will be compensated by the waiting time you’re in the Felipe Ángeles Airport,” Pastor said.
He detailed the “expeditious system” for checking-in AIFA passengers, which includes the use of smart phones or self-service check-in kiosks as well as a self-service luggage documentation process.
Pastor also said that getting through airport security will be much quicker thanks to “state-of-the art electronic security devices.”
“Hand luggage will be processed for the detection of dangerous substances in an average of 30 seconds,” he said.
The entire check-in/luggage documentation/security process for a planeload of 180 passengers will take approximately 33 minutes at the AIFA, whereas the process takes 80 to 90 minutes using the conventional, or manual, method, according to information presented by Pastor.
The plan to hasten the check-in process will also be aided by the fact there will be few flights departing the AIFA when it begins operations next Monday. Three Mexican airlines will each have two departures per day to domestic destinations, while a state-owned Venezuelan airline is slated to fly once weekly to Caracas.
Built by the army, the AIFA is located on an Air Force base some 50 kilometers north of the capital’s downtown in México state.
A train link from central Mexico City and new highway infrastructure connecting to the airport have not yet been completed.
Mexico News Daily
