Mexico City International Airport (AICM) had a busy year in 2022, but passenger numbers were still below the record set in 2019.

Just over 46.25 million passengers used AICM’s two terminals in 2022, an 8% decline compared to 2019, when 50.3 million people passed through the airport.

AICM data shows that almost 70% of the passengers were domestic travelers, with the remainder using the airport before or after taking international flights.

Carlos Torres, an aviation sector analyst, told the newspaper Reforma that the establishment in October of a lower cap on the number of flights allowed per hour at AICM ensured that passenger numbers remained below pre-pandemic levels in 2022.

“The decision to temporarily reduce the operations per hour from 61 to 52 put the brakes on the activity that the airport had had since the beginning of the year. That’s why the 2019 [passenger] numbers weren’t reached,” he said.

The total number of flights that took off from and landed at AICM was 18% below the 2019 figure.

Torres noted that the percentage of domestic passengers as a portion of the total number of passengers was higher in 2022 than in previous years.

“Before the pandemic the proportion was 50-50 between … domestic and international passengers. The difference [in 2022] may be due to the slow recovery of the United States and Canadian [outbound tourism] markets last year,” he said.

Another factor, Torres added, is that many inbound international travelers fly directly to other Mexican airports.

“For example, the Cancún airport … received a higher number of international passengers [in 2022],” he said, adding that arrivals from abroad were also up at airports in Puerto Vallarta, Los Cabos, Monterrey and Guadalajara.

With reports from Reforma