Serves Mexico City 4,500 Asphalt 5,000 Asphalt | Hub for Aeroméxico (future) 5,000 Asphalt Opened 2020 (planned) | |
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Location Zona Federal del Lago de Texcoco, municipalities of Ecatepec, Atenco and Texcoco, State of Mexico, Greater Mexico City Address Ex-Hacienda de Atenco, State of Mexico, Mexico Profiles | ||
A new Mexico City international airport was announced in the State of the Union address of Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto on September 2, 2014, who said that it would become a national symbol. The new airport will replace Benito Juárez International Airport, which is at full capacity. It is to have one large terminal of 8,000,000 square feet (743,000 m2) on a total lot of 4,600 hectares (11,400 acres). It will have three runways to start and will be expandable to up to six runways: two that are each 4,500 m (14,800 ft) long and four that are each 4,000 m (13,000 ft) long. With three runways in simultaneous use the airport will be able to serve up to 57,000,000 passengers per year. When fully built and at maximum runway capacity, the new airport will handle up to 120,000,000 passengers per year in an environmentally sustainable manner.
Contents
- Cost and construction
- Location
- Facilities
- Symbolism
- X Shape
- Roof
- Sustainability
- Antecedents and protests
- References
The master plan has been developed by the global engineering and consultancy company Arup Group Limited. The architects are Fernando Romero, architect of the Soumaya Museum, and Foster and Partners. The project will be a collaboration between FR-EE / Fernando Romero EnterprisE, Foster and Partners, and Royal HaskoningDHV's daughter Netherlands Airport Consultants (NACO).
The airport is expected, by the director of Grupo Aeroportuario de la Ciudad de México, to be commercially open during 2020, with the former airport stopping operations 6–8 hours before.
Cost and construction
Construction will be in two phases, 2015–2020 (but with some operations beginning in 2020) and a second phase to be defined. The first phase will put three runways into service, with another three to be added in the second phase. As of September 2014 the bidding process had not yet been launched. Phase I was originally estimated to cost 120 billion Mexican pesos, about 9.1 billion US dollars, but on September 4, 2014, the estimate was revised to 169 billion pesos (9.4 billion USD). The funding will be 58% public and 42% private. It will be built on land owned by the federal government in the lakebed of Lake Texcoco, an area known as the Zona Federal del Lago de Texcoco, in the State of Mexico, east of the current airport.
In September 2016, Mexico sold 2 billion US dollars worth of green bonds to partially fund the construction of the new airport. The US$1 billion worth of 10-year bonds pay annual interest of 4.25% and the US$1 billion worth of 30-year bonds pay annual interest of 5.5%. The green bond issuance {the second by Mexico) became the largest in Latin America and the first green bond from an emerging market to receive a Green Bond Assessment grade from Moody's Investors Service.
Location
The airport will be built in the Zona Federal del Lago de Texcoco, an area that is still not built-up on the Lake Texcoco lakebed. It is currently under the administration of the Comisión Nacional del Agua (Conagua), or National Water Commission. The land lies within the municipalities of Atenco, Ecatepec and Texcoco, in the State of Mexico. The airport will be approximately 1 hour 5 minutes (43 km) from downtown due to the lack of a new dedicated expressway.
Facilities
The airport was to start the building process in 2015 or 2016 with its starting phase. It is expected to put its first phase in operation in 2020. If completed as planned, the airport will have a passenger capacity of up to 57 million passengers and, if the master plan is completed in the following decades, up to 120 million people per year. This would make it the largest airport in Latin America as well in the Americas in both physical size and passenger volume.
At its first phase, the airport will include:
When completed, the airport's total facilities will include:
Symbolism
The entrance to the terminal will feature a garden of cacti and symbols of the eagle and snake, part of the national symbol pictured on the country's Coat of Arms and flag.
X Shape
The X is symbolic of the country's name, "México". An X-shape is also considered efficient to extend the number of gates. The X shape is used in the airports of Abu Dhabi, Mumbai, Pittsburgh, and Seoul.
Roof
The roof is airy, lightweight, and made of membrane.
According to Foster and Partners:
With spans in excess of 100 metres, three times the span of a conventional airport, it has a monumental scale inspired by Mexican architecture and symbolism. The maximum span internally is 170 metres. The lightweight glass and steel structure and soaring vaulted roof are designed for Mexico City’s challenging soil conditions. Its unique pre-fabricated system can be constructed rapidly, without the need for scaffolding – the airport will be a showcase for Mexican innovation, built by Mexican contractors and engineers.
Sustainability
The terminal is to be sustainable, aiming for a LEED Platinum certification. The project claims it is "designed to be the world’s most sustainable airport".
Antecedents and protests
Because of the increasing traffic at Mexico City airport, President Vicente Fox announced the construction of a new, larger airport on 5,000 ha (12,000 acres) of land in the municipalities of Texcoco and San Salvador Atenco in 2002, roughly where the new airport is planned today. When local violent protests took place, the new airport was cancelled. Prior to the 2014 announcement of the construction of the new airport, the government had purchased ejido land (agricultural land held in common by local communities), and the government now claims that it has no need to acquire additional locally-held land to build the airport. Some local groups in Atenco and nearby communities differ, claiming that the federal government acquired the land through deception and strong-arming, and small-scale protests took place after the announcement.