AIFA Airport Hires Consultant to Boost Passenger Traffic

Nearly four years after its opening, the Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA) admits it needs a new strategy to successfully attract passengers, airlines, and cargo flights. For this reason, it has launched a search process for a specialized consulting firm to advise the airport terminal on which routes to open, with which companies, and under what conditions so that flights can become established.

This is revealed in bidding LA-07-HZI-007HZI999-N-119-2025, in which the airport proposes hiring a consultant to develop a market strategy based on reviewing the performance of routes operated since its opening, the number of passengers transported, and the response of airlines that have worked at the terminal, with the goal of strengthening these indicators.

Based on that analysis, the document, a copy of which is held by EL UNIVERSAL, establishes that AIFA will identify which destinations have generated demand and which have not, as well as the factors that have limited the growth of its air connectivity. From this, new plans are expected to be designed to expand the flight offering, define incentive schemes to consolidate the arrival of more airlines, and attract greater volumes of passengers and cargo.

The project, for which there is no winning contractor yet, also contemplates comparing AIFA’s performance with that of other nearby airports, such as the Mexico City International Airport, and identifying national and international markets with potential that currently lack direct connection from the terminal.

All this forms part of a roadmap that, according to the document, seeks to address the limitations detected in the airport’s operation and strengthen its functioning in the medium term.

The service for developing a route development plan also establishes that the strategy will not be short-term, as the consultant that is ultimately hired must prepare a growth proposal for AIFA with a five-year horizon. This must include projections for passenger and cargo traffic, as well as profitability estimates for the routes proposed to be opened during that period.

The hired consulting firm must be an expert in providing advisory services for airports and must evaluate and monitor results.

In addition to the air connectivity analysis, the document recognizes that the airport’s performance is linked to its land access conditions. Therefore, the consultancy must conduct a comprehensive study of land mobility and accessibility to evaluate how passengers and cargo currently arrive at AIFA, identify bottlenecks, and propose short, medium, and long-term solutions.

The plan available on the Compras MX platform also considers an active airport promotion strategy. Among the planned tasks is the preparation of a sales dossier with market information, demand, segmentation of current and potential passengers, as well as organizing commercial missions aimed at airlines and investors to present opportunities for new routes.

The strategy considers an analysis of the airport’s area of influence, in order to identify primary, secondary, and tertiary catchment zones for both passengers and cargo, and link that potential with the region’s economic activity.

According to the bidding, which was launched on September 9 and was declared deserted for not receiving proposals that met the requirements, the consultant must accompany the airport in negotiations with airlines throughout the year and provide permanent market follow-up. It must also coordinate with local, state, and federal authorities to facilitate route development and the implementation of agreements.

Finally, the document establishes that the strategy must include evaluation and monitoring mechanisms, by defining key performance indicators to measure the behavior of implemented routes, adjust the strategy based on actual passenger and cargo traffic, and ensure the profitability and sustainability of operations in the medium and long term.

The award record indicates that KPMG Cárdenas Dosal S.C. and ADHOC Consultores Asociados S.C. are the two companies that sought to obtain the contract. However, KPMG submitted outdated tax compliance documents, and ADHOC was rated with “technical defects” in its offer.

The documents indicate that the companies quoted 4 million and 8.9 million pesos, respectively, for the service, but the total amount of the bidding is unknown.

SEDENA Also Seeks to Win Tourists for Megaproject

Similar to the Felipe Ángeles International Airport, the Maya Train sought to attract passengers through external promotion services. On November 11, EL UNIVERSAL published that, due to low levels of users and guests, the Olmeca-Maya-Mexica Airport and Railway Group (GAFSACOMM), operated by the Secretariat of National Defense, allocated 74 million pesos to an advertising campaign to position the services of the Maya Train, its hotels, and AIFA under the Mundo Maya brand.

Of the total, 53 million pesos were allocated to advertising on radio, television, and social media, and another 21 million pesos were destined for the design and production of the campaign during the last two months of 2025.

The contracts include the production of audiovisual materials and creative content to promote the tourism, cultural, and transportation offerings of the conglomerate, which groups the Maya Train, seven hotels, tourist parks, AIFA, and the Mexicana airline.

In that case, the required services consist of the comprehensive design and production of advertising messages, materials for traditional and digital media, as well as the development of brand identity and content focused on holiday seasons. The objective is to increase the interest of the national and international market and improve the positioning of projects operated by the group.