Mexico City International Airport is unlikely to be completely replaced. Instead, plans are moving forward to expand the existing facility with a new terminal to improve capacity and passenger comfort.
According to Mexico City Daily, the Mexico City Airport Group has developed proposals to add a third terminal to the current airport layout, with the option to build a fourth terminal in the future. In parallel, construction is scheduled to begin next month on the $4.1 billion Santa Lucia Airport, another airport that will serve the capital.
A change in government policy led to the cancellation of the previous plan to replace Benito Juárez International Airport (MEX) with a new $13 billion airport in Texcoco. Work on that partially built project in Texcoco was halted, prompting authorities to reassess how best to address the region’s air-traffic needs.
GAMC CEO Gerardo Ferrando said the proposed third terminal would be dedicated to arriving passengers and designed specifically to alleviate congestion at the current terminals.
“There are certain discomforts at T1 and T2, that’s why T3 is coming and eventually T4. Everything that will be done is for greater comfort,” he said.
In addition to expanding the main airport, Toluca International Airport, which is also located in the Valley of Mexico, is expected to play a larger role in meeting growing demand for air travel. The airport group is taking steps to gain control of Toluca to integrate it into the broader regional strategy.
Overall, the combined approach—adding terminals at Mexico City International Airport, advancing the Santa Lucia project, and leveraging Toluca—aims to increase capacity, distribute traffic across multiple airports, and improve the passenger experience without fully abandoning the existing MEX infrastructure.