Deficiencies persist at Mexico City International Airport despite remodeling

Despite the start of remodeling work on Terminal 1 of Mexico City International Airport (AICM), experts warn that the resources allocated remain insufficient to meet the real needs of the country's main airport.

Pablo Casas Lías, director of the National Institute of Legal and Aeronautical Research (INIJA), pointed out that the recent renovation of halls 29 to 36—announced by President Claudia Sheinbaum as part of the first phase of modernization—represents only 10% of the total project.

With an investment of approximately US$3.25 million from the airport's own self-generated revenue, the works included improvements to waiting rooms, accesses, and passenger transport areas. However, Casas Lías warned that the AICM, despite being the hub of the Metropolitan Airport System, continues to operate without the necessary budget for its maintenance and modernization.

“The AICM is being financially strangled to benefit the AIFA, which directly impacts its revenues,” the specialist reported.

The federal government allocated only about US$29.4 million to the AICM for 2025, a third of what was allocated in 2024, when it received about US$88.2 million. Meanwhile, the airport generated revenues of more than US$747 million in the first half of the year, but also reported expenses and losses of about US$679 million, according to its financial statements.

Casas Lías criticized the fact that while resources are being cut from an airport that brings in foreign exchange, jobs, and connectivity, the government is allocating more than US$2.64 billion to a state-owned airline “that only generates budgetary dependence.”

Work is currently continuing in other areas of T1 and T2, such as waiting rooms, inspection points, floors, restrooms, and facades. Authorities say the work is being done without affecting air operations.

However, the specialist insisted that the real problem at the AICM is not technical or logistical, but budgetary: “What the airport needs is not commissions, but investment.”