Puneet Varma (Editor)

Cancún International Airport

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Airport type
  
Public

Hub for
  
VivaAerobus

Code
  
CUN

Phone
  
+52 55 5284 0400

Serves
  
Cancún

Focus city for
  
Volaris

Elevation
  
6 m


Operator
  
Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste

Location
  
Cancún, Quintana-Roo, Mexico

Address
  
Carretera Cancún-Chetumal Km 22, 77565 Cancún, Q.R., Mexico

Profiles

Cancún International Airport (Spanish: Aeropuerto Internacional de Cancún) (IATA: CUN, ICAO: MMUN) is located in Cancún, Quintana Roo, on the Caribbean coast of Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula. It is Mexico's second busiest airport, after Mexico City International Airport, but the biggest for international passengers. In 2016, Cancún airport handled 21,415,795 passengers, a 9.28% increase compared to 2015.

Contents

The airport has three commercial terminals. Terminal 1 is used by some low-cost and charter domestic airlines; Terminal 2 is used by all of the scheduled domestic airlines and some international flights; and the new Terminal 3 handles primarily international operations of airlines from North America and Europe. It has two parallel operative runways that can be used simultaneously. The airport was officially opened in 1974. The airport is operated by Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste (ASUR). It is a hub for VivaAerobus and Volaris, and currently offers flights to 21 destinations in Mexico and to over 30 countries in North, Central, South America and Europe.

Expansion

The airport has been expanding as it has become the busiest point of entry by air to the country. In 2005, ASUR invested US$150 million for the construction of Terminal 3, inaugurated in 2007, and a new runway and a new control tower opened in October 2009. The new 2,800 meters long, 45 meters wide runway was built to the north of the current one; the new control tower is the tallest in Latin America standing at 97 meters tall.

Terminal 2 was recently expanded in 2014. A 76,000 m2 expansion in Terminal 3 was simultaneously carried out, adding six gates and commercial areas, and it was formally opened in March 2016. The expansion should contribute to increase annual capacity to 10 million from the existing 6 million. ASUR is currently building the new Terminal 4, scheduled to be ready by 2017.

Terminals

The airport has three terminals, all of which are currently in use.

Terminal 1

Terminal 1 has 7 gates: 1-7A. After suffering damages by Hurricane Wilma, it was temporarily closed for remodeling in order to accommodate charter airlines operating into the airport. It re-opened its gates in November 2013 to charter flights; it also serves three local airlines, Magni, TAR and VivaAerobus. Terminal 1 offers basic services to passengers.

Terminal 2

Terminal 2 has 22 gates: A1-A11 (in a satellite building) and B12-B22 (at the main building). Most domestic airlines depart from here, along with all international flights to Central and South America and a few long-haul flights to Europe. There is a bank and food outlets in the check-in area, along with several restaurants and shops in the boarding area and migration/customs services.

Terminal 3

Terminal 3 has 21 gates: C4-C24. It has been recently expanded. All US and Canadian airlines and most of the European carriers use this terminal. It offers shops (including duty free), cafés and restaurants, as well as migration/customs services.

Busiest routes

Note

Accidents and incidents

  • On March 15, 1984, Aerocozumel Flight 261 crashed soon after takeoff. No one died in crash but, one of the passengers died of a heart attack while moving through the swamp.
  • On September 9, 2009, hijacked Aeroméxico Flight 576 landed at Mexico City International Airport from Cancun International Airport.
  • On January 19, 2010, a Mexicana Airbus A318, flight MX-368 from Cancun to Mexico City, with 45 passengers suffered a mishap at takeoff. Both the outboard and inboard core cowling of the left hand engine separated, hitting the fuselage and the semi-left wing leaving residues on the runway; a few minutes later, a Click Mexicana Boeing 717, flight QA-7323 from Havana to Cancun suffered the puncture of two tires while landing; in both incidents no casualties or injured passengers were reported.
  • Accolades

  • 2011 - Best Airport in Latin America - Caribbean of the Airport Service Quality Awards by Airports Council International and 2nd Best Airport by Size in the 5 to 15 million passenger category.
  • References

    Cancún International Airport Wikipedia