Although the cost of the flight from the Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA) will be cheaper compared to other air terminals in the country, since it will have a lower usage rate, the inconvenience is connectivity, if you consider the transfer to the Mexico City, experts point out.
The above, because the distance between the AIFA and the central zone of the country’s capital is around 47 kilometerswhile from the Benito Juárez Airport to the first square it is barely eight.
In addition, two of the six land connection works announced to improve access to the new terminal located at the Santa Lucía military base in Zumpango, State of Mexico, have not yet been completed. One of these is the expansion of the suburban train, which will be ready until the second half of 2023.
“There are airports that have a similar distance, but with very good connectivity… and in this case there isn’t,” says Heriberto Salazar Eguiluz, president of the Mexican College of Aviators.
Alfredo Covarrubias, general secretary of the National Union of Air Traffic Controllers, indicates that the Airport Use Fee (TUA) will be 284.5 pesos for domestic flights in Saint Lucia, while in Benito Juárez it is 618.4. “It’s to incentivize airlines.”
Symbol. The mammoths represent the identity of the place; the museum and some outdoor sculptures are ready to receive the users of the air terminal. Special
In the case of Guadalajara, only one airline, the cheapest, will have the route from the AIFA, and the cost of the ticket will be less than the one to Benito Juárez, considering the same destination. A flight to the latter will cost 1,292 pesos (on Thursday), while the one from Santa Lucía will cost 746.
This price is close to that of the bus lines from Guadalajara to the country’s capital (816 pesos). The difference is that the trucks arrive at the Central Norte de Autobuses, which is only 10.4 kilometers from downtown Mexico City.
Last September, when rendering his Third Government Report, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) stressed that the AIFA would be built “with less than 80 billion pesos (MDP)”. With the bag assigned this year, the amount rose to 115 thousand 981 million pesos.
Experts point out that the operation of the Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA) will be very limiteddue to the fact that it starts operations with only eight national flights and one international one, unfinished works in land connections, lack of equipment, among other pending.
Heriberto Salazar Eguiluz, president of the Association of Aviators of Mexico, considered that the new airport located in the Santa Lucía military base will operate optimally in a year and a half, as long as Mexico recovers category 1 in aviation safety, which lost last year, after the United States Federation Aviation Administration (FAA) concluded that it does not meet international standards. “If this does not happen, there will be no permits for any Mexican line to increase routes to the United States, which is the main international destination.”
He pointed out that the country did not need another airport for the local destination, “it needed a larger airport to make the connections and that many airlines use it as a connection”
there are limitations
Alfredo Covarrubias, general secretary of the National Union of Air Traffic Controllers, hopes that the new airport will work properly. “As government controllers and dedicated to airspace security, we will ensure that it operates safely. In that sense, we bet that it will be the best possible and that it will fulfill its purpose in a short time”.
However, he considers the latter to be very complicated. “Little by little we see the evolution of the airport, naturally we will know exactly what its capacity will be, if passengers are willing to go to Santa Lucía to make their flights, but it is very complicated because it suffers from many things.”
He declared that the current equipment of the AIFA does not allow it to operate 24 hours a day. “In the morning because there is a lot of fog and in the afternoon because there are dust storms. In addition, due to the equipment they put on him, he cannot operate at night. Right now the controllers at the Santa Lucía tower have instructions that they only operate visually.”
He insisted that they will guarantee security.
Covarrubias commented that despite the fact that it had been announced that the new air terminal would have an ILS Category III system, which allows it to operate with zero visibility, “it is not true. If we see the aeronautical information publication, it says there that they will install category 1, the most basic, and this will be in operation until March 23 or 24.”
KEYS
The times in the capital
Routes The federal government issued information on routes, connection points and travel times and costs to reach the new air terminal from various areas of Mexico City.
Expectation The journey by vehicle from Perisur to the Felipe Ángeles International Airport, which begins operations today, takes two hours and 42 minutes, when the time announced by the federal government for this route is one hour and 35 minutes.
Reality A test run was carried out that began at 10:30 am, just at the entrance to the parking lot of the shopping plaza, at the intersection of Insurgentes Sur avenue with the Peripheral Ring.
Slow In the first kilometers there was little vehicular flow on the Periférico, where heavy traffic was found in San Jerónimo. There, according to the navigator, the traffic delayed the trip for seven minutes, and then continued normally along Viaducto and Insurgentes avenues.
Plays Google Maps warned that the end of the trip was 24 minutes away; however, just 7 kilometers from Santa Lucía, the road’s lanes were reduced from four to one due to road improvement work continuing.
Delay For this reason, the traffic was at a turn of the wheel for one hour and two minutes, which caused the arrival at the Felipe Ángeles airport to be at 1:12 p.m., so the final time of the journey was two hours and 42 minutes. .
Afternoon If it had not been for the construction work that delayed the trip for just over an hour, the total route would have been covered in approximately one hour and 50 minutes, that is, about 15 minutes more than the map estimates. released by federal authorities.
GUIDE
Airlines and confirmed flights
Only four have confirmed their participation and travel offers to Mexico and the world. The airlines that will fly in the AIFA are: VivaAerobus, Volaris, Conviasa and Aeroméxico.
You will fly. It was the first to confirm its operation at the new Felipe Ángeles airport, since in October 2021 it announced that it would be integrated into the project. The flights offered are from AIFA to Tijuana and Cancun.
VivaAerobus. He confirmed that starting next Monday, March 21, it will operate with trips to Monterrey and Guadalajara. It will have connecting or direct flights. The airline considered one of the cheapest will have a plan (Viva Bus) that includes arrival transportation to AIFA from the North Central Bus Terminal, for a cost of 75 pesos.
AeroMexico. He recently confirmed that he will participate in the AIFA project. It will offer daily flights to Mérida and Villahermosa, as announced in a statement.
Conviasa. The airline will also offer trips to Caracas from Monday. Initially, the flights will be on Mondays. For now, it is the only foreign airline that has joined the new Felipe Ángeles airport. This airline also operates in Toluca and Cancun.
THE CONNECTIVITY
The general director of AIFA, Isidoro Pastor Román, announced last week the route and transportation options to move from different points of Mexico City to the new air terminal. Transfers last from 42 minutes to one hour and 35 minutes. As for cost, it ranges from 50 to 150 pesos.
Includes the four bus stations. Transfers to AIFA cost 125 pesos. After the information was published on the social networks of the federal government, users began to point out that the times of most of these tours are from two to three hours.
The federal official assured that the Santa Lucía airport has technology that reduces waiting times. Therefore, users will be required to arrive one hour before for domestic flights and two for international flights. In the rest of the air terminals, they must arrive two and three hours in advance, respectively.
BACKGROUND CURTAIN
Suburban train postponed
The extension of the suburban train to connect Mexico City with the Felipe Ángeles International Airport will be ready until the second half of 2023, according to information from the federal government.
The Ministry of Communications and Transportation reports that the railway branch from the Lechería station to the AIFA will be an extension of the suburban railway that currently operates between Buenavista and Cuautitlán, covering a 23-kilometer route with five intermediate stations and the Cuautitlán terminal.
It will provide the service with fixed-route electric trains and will cover a 42-kilometer route from Buenavista to AIFAin an approximate time of 45 minutes.
The rail transport service will meet the transport needs of the users of the new airport, as well as the residential and commercial areas located on the 20 kilometers of the route that currently do not have any mass transport service, in the municipalities of Tultitlán , Tultepec and Nextlalpan, as highlighted by the agency in a statement.
The train will be integrated with other mass transit systems to facilitate connectivity. The expansion work will have a mixed investment of 25 billion pesos: 15 billion are the responsibility of the concessionaire and the rest will be covered with federal resources.
NUMERALISM
8 kilometers and 19 minutes to reach the Benito Juárez International Airport in Mexico City 47 kilometers and 1:05 minutes to reach the Felipe Ángeles International Airport 60 kilometers and 1:02 minutes to reach the Toluca Airport 108 kilometers and 1:44 hours to get to the Hermanos Serdán International Airport in Puebla 112 kilometers and 1:38 hours to get to the General Mariano Matamoros International Airport in Cuernavaca
Fuente:
Paudal-https://www.paudal.com/2022/03/21/land-connection-aifas-main-problem/
