Cancún Airport Pushes Ahead With Modernization Despite 5% Passenger Drop

Cancún, Quintana Roo — Cancún International Airport is pushing ahead with a major expansion and modernization program even as passenger numbers have fallen by as much as 5 percent, according to airport director Carlos Trueba.

Trueba said work is currently underway in all of the airport’s terminals as part of an effort to strengthen its position in the region and prepare for future demand.

“I have construction projects everywhere,” he said. “We’re building Terminal 4, we’re building Terminal 3, we’re doing work on Terminal 2 and the entire Terminal 1, and we’re building the new airport management building next to our office. But the most important project, today and for the next three years, will be the road work.”

The road project will give the airport a six-lane entrance and exit — three lanes for arrivals and three for departures — along with an underpass connecting the aircraft bridge area to the terminals to speed up passenger flow.

Trueba said the new layout will distribute traffic more efficiently, keeping local vehicles such as those driven by airport workers, taxi drivers and tour operators on the lower level to ease congestion. That work is expected to take about three years.

The airport operator has earmarked nearly 8 billion pesos for the expansion over a five-year period, underscoring the project’s importance.

Regarding the recent decline in passenger numbers, Trueba said he expects air traffic to recover by the winter season and return to the levels seen during the same period last year.

He noted that the airport is offsetting reduced operations and the departure of Spirit Airlines with new flights from JetBlue and WestJet. With those additions, the airport expects to regain an average of 500 daily operations starting in December, which would stabilize activity during the winter.

“We’re feeling the squeeze just like everyone else, and we have to find a way to recover flights,” Trueba said. “Working with the state government, hotel associations and airlines, we need to get back the market we’ve lost and start growing again.”