Simple Flying - Daniel Martinez Garbuno
Mexico City’s newest Felipe Ángeles International Airport (NLU) turns one year old. The airport was built instead of the now-scrapped Texcoco International and was promoted as a low-cost option to help the saturation of the city’s airspace. But how has the rollout been and has it delivered the results it promised?
As of March 2023, Felipe Ángeles International only has six passenger airlines. These are Aeromexico, Arajet, Conviasa, Copa Airlines, Viva Aerobus, and Volaris. The airport has 18 routes, 15 domestic and three international, of which none goes to the United States, Mexico’s largest commercial partner. Nevertheless, that’s set to change shortly as Aeromexico will inaugurate a new service to Houston in May.
The government has failed to attract new international airlines, particularly from the United States. While Mexico remains downgraded to Category 2 status by the Federal Aviation Organization, the Felipe Ángeles will unlikely reach its full potential.
