Nayarit and Puerto Escondido airports receive investments

NAYARIT - The airports of Riviera Nayarit and Puerto Escondido received investments of more than US$195 billion, informed Javier García Bejos, CEO of Aeropuertos Mexicanos (AME); in addition, the airport of Saltillo, Coahuila, was incorporated to Grupo Aeroportuario Turístico Mexicano (GATM).

The executive explained that GATM arose from the association between Aeropuertos y Servicios Auxiliares (ASA) and AME, where “an opportunity was found to make strategic investments without indebting the Government”.

In addition, he said, this association does not generate public debt and no concession was granted to rehabilitate the infrastructure of these air-land side airports and thus turn them into international airports.

In an interview with A21, the executive affirmed that, thanks to the work carried out, these airports have become a reference of good service. He emphasized that this model opens new opportunities for the participation of the private sector in airports that were previously managed by the Government.

Under this concept of not generating debt and balancing relations without concessions, each one does what it knows how to do: ASA with its experience of more than 60 years and AME with the design of infrastructure, construction and in the promotion and detonation of destinations, both are satisfied with the work done at the airports.

“We have finished the renovation of runways, taxiways, commercial aviation platforms, general aviation platforms, roads; with investments of more than 4 billion pesos in those airports and what is coming, which are the two new terminal buildings in each of the stations.

“So it has been a very important task of much collaboration, much teamwork, where the public and private sector come together to seek to generate connectivity in these airports,” said García Bejos.

He added that the market is complex, but they are participating and looking at the service provision contract model, which allows them, without being concessionaires or owners of an airport, to invest in resolving infrastructure, generate, through the business model, added value and find that beyond the TUA's it is possible to do airport business.