Guadalajara airport will have a new terminal building and second runway by 2026, the facility’s director said Thursday.

Martín Pablo Zazueta said that construction of the second terminal will start in 2024 and be finished by the summer of 2026.

Construction of the second runway has already begun and it is expected to begin operations in 2024, he said. Construction of a mixed-use development that will include a 180-room hotel, offices and commercial spaces has also begun.

The Pacific Airport Group (GAP), which manages the airport and 11 others in Mexico, is investing 15 billion pesos (US $705.2 million) to upgrade the facility.

Its capacity will double as a result of the upgrade and the new terminal will be on par with the best in the world, Zazueta told a meeting of airport officials.

GAP general director Raúl Revuelta Musalem said the size of the investment in the coming years will match the amount of money spent on the Guadalajara airport in the past 20.

“We’ll change the four tires of the car … with the car running,” he said, indicating that the airport will continue to operate while the construction work takes place.

Revuelta said that 60% of the investment amount is being spent with construction companies from Jalisco and other states in western Mexico.

Zazueta said passenger traffic at the airport is expected to be 12 million this year, which would be 80% of 2019 levels. He predicted that passenger numbers next year will exceed the record of 14.8 million passengers set in 2019.

Almost 2,000 flights arrive at and depart from the Guadalajara airport every week. Located about 20 kilometers south of central Guadalajara, the facility links the Jalisco capital to 57 domestic and international destinations.

With reports from El Economista