Benito Juarez International Airport Aeropuerto Internacional de la Ciudad de México
IATA: MEX – ICAO: MMMX + Mexico City International Airport Location of airport in Mexico
Summary
Airport type		Civil
Owner		Grupo Aeroportuario de la Ciudad de México
Operator		Aeropuertos y Servicios Auxiliares
Serves		Mexico City, Mexico
Hub for		Aeromar Aeromexico Interjet VivaAerobus Volaris
Elevation AMSL		7,316 ft / 2,230 m
Coordinates		19°26′10″N 099°04′19″W / 19.43611°N 99.07194°W / 19.43611; -99.07194
Website		www.aicm.com.mx
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
	m	ft
05R/23L	3,900	12,795	Asphalt
05L/23R	3,952	12,966	Asphalt
Statistics (2009)
Aircraft operations			348,306
Passengers			24,243,056
Cargo tonnage			321,133
Source: DAFIF

Mexico City International Airport (Spanish: Aeropuerto Internacional de la Ciudad de México or AICM), also called Benito Juárez International Airport (IATA: MEX, ICAO: MMMX) is a commercial airport that serves Mexico City, the capital of Mexico. It is Mexico's and Latin America's busiest. Although this was not its official name for several decades, it was formally named after the 19th century president Benito Juárez in 2006, and is Mexico's main international and domestic gateway. In recent years Toluca airport has become a major alternate airport.

This hot and high airport offers direct flights to more than 100 destinations worldwide. In 2009, the airport served 24,243,056 passengers, a decrease of 7.5% compared with 2008, who received 26,210,217. This modest decline was mainly due to the global financial crisis and the outbreak of influenza. In optimal conditions, and with the current renovations and expansion projects completed, the Benito Juárez airport will be able to handle up to 32 million passengers per year.. It provides non-stop services from Mexico City to North America, Central America and Caribbean, South America, Europe and Asia.

Benito Juárez International Airport - The airport as seen from an aircraft in 2011.
Click to enlarge

As the main hub for Mexico's largest airline Aeroméxico and a secondary hub for its subsidiary Aeroméxico Connect, the airport has become a SkyTeam hub. This airport is a focus city for VivaAerobus.

AICM is Latin America's busiest airport. The airport houses a wide variety of lodging options for its passengers, including hotels inside Terminal 1 (the Hilton Hotel, the Camino Real, and the Fiesta Inn), also a NH Hotel at Terminal 2.

History

The airport first opened as Balbuena Military Airport. The first landing was on November 5, 1928 and regular service started a year later, but was officially inaugurated on May 15, 1931. Its first international route was to Los Angeles International Airport operated by Mexicana. President Miguel Aleman opened the terminal in 1952, thus turning the airport into a civilian one. In 1980, the terminal was expanded to double its capacity, using a single large terminal rather than multiple terminals as in other airports. Ten years later in 1990, the mixed domestic/international gates were separated to increase the terminal's functionality, along with the separation of domestic and international check-in halls.

In 2001, the east wing of the terminal was opened as an international final call waiting area and was mainly used by SkyTeam members. Former president Vicente Fox launched a program called Expansion of Mexico City Airport to its Maximum Capacity in 2002 to increase the airport's capabilities. The whole terminal was expanded and upgraded with new check-in halls, 13 more baggage claim belts, the division of the terminal into Departures and Arrivals floors, construction of several new taxiways and a whole new terminal opposite of the current one, thus breaking the single terminal concept. The project was started with an initial investment of $200,000,000 MXP. Nevertheless, its final cost was $800,000,000 MXP. The original quasi-Terminal 2, which only housed Aeromar's operations in and out the airport was demolished, and the new Terminal 2 was built in less than two years.

On November 15, 2007, terminal 2 was opened, increasing the airport's operational capability by 40%. All SkyTeam members moved their operations to it, except Air France and KLM. It was officially inaugurated on March 2008, once the new road accesses and taxiways were finished. Terminal 2 increased the airport's contact positions by 40%, and the operational capacity by 15%. Terminal 2 is connected to the Domestic Building of Terminal 1 by the Aerotrén monorail system, in which travel between both terminals can be done in less than 7 minutes.

Lack of capacity and slot restriction

Terminal 2

The airport has suffered from a lack of capacity due to restrictions for expansion, since it is located in a densely-populated area. Some analysts have reported that if the airport had grown at the same speed as demand, it would now serve over 40 million passengers annually. The main issue with the airport is the limitation that its two runways provide, since they are used at 97.3% of their maximum capacity, leaving a very short room for new operations into the airport. Only government, military and commercial aircraft are allowed to land at the airport. Private aircraft must use alternate airports, such as Lic. Adolfo Lopez Mateos International Airport in Toluca, General Mariano Matamoros Airport in Cuernavaca or Hermanos Serdán International Airport in Puebla. Even with the inauguration of the new Terminal 2, the airport would be ideally designed to serve around 18 million passengers per year, according to the international standards for runway and terminal usage. Instead, the airport will keep increasing the number of passengers from around 26 million passengers in 2008 at a rate of 16% per year.

Airport Specifications

Terminal Layout before T2

Terminal layout after T2 was built

Terminal 1

• Opened in 1958; expanded in 1970, 1989, 1998, 2000 and 2004
• Overall terminal surface: 548,000 sq meters
• Contact positions: 33
• Remote positions: 20 (34 Before New T2 was built)
• Number of jetways: 32
• Number of airside halls: 10 (A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J)
• Number of landside (check-in) halls: 9 (A1, A2, B, C, D, D1, F1, F2, F3)
• Number of mobile-lounges: 11 (A7-A, A7-B, A7-C, A9-A, A9-B, A9-C, A9-D, A9-E, F19-A, F19-C, F19-D)
• Hotel service: 600 rooms (Camino Real), 110 rooms (Hilton)
• Parking service: 3,100 vehicles (Domestic), 2,400 vehicles (International)
• Space per passenger in T1: 17 sq meters
• Number of baggage claiming carousels: 22
• Premium Lounges in T1: Salón Premier Internacional T1 (Aeroméxico), Red Carpet Club (United Airlines), Admirals Club (American Airlines), American Express Lounge (American Express), Elite Lounge Nacional (Mexicana), Elite Lounge Internacional (Mexicana).

Terminal 2

• Opened in 2007
• Overall terminal surface: 242,000 sq meters
• Contact positions: 23
• Remote positions: 17 (Aeromar and Aeromexico Connect)
• Number of jetways: 23
• Number of airside halls: 2 (Domestic, International)
• Number of landside (check-in) halls: 3 (L1, L2, L3)
• Hotel service: 287 rooms (NH)
• Parking service: 3,000 vehicles
• Space per passenger in T2: 22 sq meters
• Number of baggage claiming carousels: 15
• Premium Lounges in T2: Club Diamante (Aeromar), Salón Premier (Aeroméxico), Salón Premier Internacional T2 (Aeroméxico), Riedel Wine Room (Aeroméxico) , Travel Pass Elite Lounge (Banamex) , Centurion American Express Lounge American Express.
• Platform surface: 426,000 sq meters
• Inter-terminal Aerotrén capacity: 7,800 daily passengers

Terminal 2 is now housing all Aeroméxico flights out of the airport, becoming the airlines's main distribution center. Although the terminal was intended to be served by all-SkyTeam member airlines, Air France and KLM are not moving their operations until the new cargo terminal is built aside Terminal 2, since the existing one is at the other side of the airport.

Terminals, airlines and destinations

A:^ LAN and LanPeru flights to/from Cancún are only for non-domestic, connecting traffic.

Cargo Airlines

Airlines providing on-demand cargo services.

• Aeromexpress
• Air Cargo Carriers
• Air Transport International
• Ameristar Jet Charter
• IFL Group operated by Contract Air Cargo
• Kalitta Air
• Líneas Aéreas Suramericanas
• Martinair Cargo
• USA Jet Airlines
• World Airways

Statistics

Passenger traffic

Operations

Benito Juárez International Airport - Terminal 2 - Departures waiting area.
Click to enlarge

Benito Juárez International Airport - Terminal 2 - AeroMéxico aircraft parked at North Concourse. AeroMéxico is the largest carrier operating at Benito Juárez Airport.
Click to enlarge

Benito Juárez International Airport - AeroMéxico Boeing 777-200ER landing from Shanghai Pudong International Airport.
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Benito Juárez International Airport - A Volaris A319 parked at Terminal 1 on a rainy day.
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External façade of Terminal 2

Terminal 2 Hall L3 Entrance

Terminal 2 Hall L3 Check-in Counters

Terminal 2 Hall L2 in the foreground, Hall 1 in the far background

Ground transportation

Individuals aircraft spotting from a spot adjacent the taxiways

Metro and bus services

The airport is served by the Terminal Aérea Metro station, located just outside the national terminal; it also has a Bus Terminal, which is served by various bus lines [1] with routes to Cuernavaca, Puebla, Querétaro, Toluca, Pachuca, and Córdoba. Whilst the airport always had a bus area, the bus terminal building itself was not built until 2003, to accommodate the many passengers that utilize this service.

Accidents and Incidents

• On October 31, 1979, Western Airlines Flight 2605 crash-landed. The crew of the DC-10 had landed on the wrong runway and the jetliner hit construction vehicles that were on the closed runway. There were 78 fatalities (including one on the ground) and 14 survivors.
• An Aero California DC-9-15 overran in 2006, during an intense storm at the airport. There were no victims, but the aircraft was scrapped. However, a woman died later due to a heart attack.
• On September 9, 2009, hijacked Aeroméxico Flight 576 landed at Mexico City International Airport from Cancun International Airport.
• On September 13, 2009, Lufthansa Cargo McDonnell-Douglas MD-11 D-ALCO was severely damaged in a heavy landing. Post landing inspection revealed that there were wrinkles in the fuselage skin and the nose gear was bent. It is reported that the aircraft may be written off.

The content above was published at Airports-Worldwide.com in 2010.
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