Got 1 min? Cancún airport to get US $1.4B in upgrades over 5 years

Aeropuertos del Sureste (ASUR) has announced plans to invest US $1.6 billion in nine air terminals in Mexico, with the Cancún International Airport receiving 75% of the total amount.

That means US $1.4 billion will be allocated to the Cancún airport, the main entry point for international tourists to Mexico, according to the newspaper El Economista.

Last year, the airport exceeded 30 million passengers for the first time, and by year-end, it is expected to receive 32 million passengers.

This investment plan will span from 2024 to 2028.

The initial investment in 2024 will be US $154 million. This amount will increase to $265 million in 2025 and then to $324 million in 2026, the highest scheduled investment. In 2027, it will reduce to $227 million, and in the last year of the investment period, which is 2028, it will be $295 million.

Last December, as ASUR celebrated the 30.3-million-passenger record, executives acknowledged that the airport had reached its capacity limit. So to accommodate more passengers this year, the airport reopened Terminal 1, which had been closed for years.

Tulum international airpot
As the new Tulum airport begins offering international flights in 2024, it will take further pressure off the nearby Cancún airport. (Mara Lezama/X)

According to Manuel Gutiérrez Sola, the commercial director of ASUR, Terminal 1 was affected by Hurricane Wilma in 2005.

ASUR’s work plan has yet to be released. However, it has been reported that there are plans to renovate Terminal 1 next year and to expand Terminal 4. Additionally, the route between the Cancún airport terminal of the Maya Train will need to be completed.

On that matter, President López Obrador has said that the Tulum airport will be of “great help to the Cancún airport” as the latter is “already very saturated.”

The Tulum airport started operations on Dec. 1 offering 5 daily domestic flights. It will inaugurate international flight service in March 2024.

With reports from El Economista

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