Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA) has moved more than 7 million passengers this year, a 12% jump over last year, which has taken the Mexico City area’s second international airport to 17 million passengers served since it began operations in March of 2022.

In a statement to reporters, Isidoro Pastor Román, head of the airport, said that AIFA’s Master Development Plan projects serving 9 million passengers by 2026, as the World Cup is expected to bring tens of thousands of additional passengers to the airport.

“Dedicated flights for national teams, as well as business travelers with private planes, will be arriving at AIFA,” Pastor said.

AIFA’s passenger count is expected to reach the 7 million milestone for 2025 despite the cancellation of 11 international routes by a unilateral action by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) — two for Aeromexico and nine for Viva Aerobus. This cancellation has eliminated some 84,000 passengers this year, Pastor said. 

Although the figure represents a relatively small proportion of the airport’s overall passenger volume, its impact is relevant as the canceled routes involve international flights, which are a key component of the airport’s connectivity.

As of today, only three international airlines operate at AIFA: Copa Airlines, Arajet and Conviasa. These carriers offer international routes to Santo Domingo and Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic, Bogotá in Colombia and Caracas, Venezuela. Pastor said that a charter flight also occasionally flies to Sofia, Bulgaria, with the company GullivAir.

According to Pastor, President Claudia Sheinbaum will work towards recovering the canceled routes next year. 

“The challenges for next year are reflected in the efforts of President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo to restore the international routes that were canceled during this period,” Pastor said in the statement. “We hope to recover these routes by 2026, which will help us increase the number of passengers that we have outlined in the document.”

Another challenge faced by AIFA — its 35-kilometer distance from downtown Mexico City — should be resolved soon. The long-awaited Lechería-AIFA train to take passengers to and from the airport is on schedule to open by the end of March next year, in time for Holy Week, another heavy tourism period. 

With reports from La Jornada