FLUG REVUE March 2006: Cancun airport recovers

March 2006

CANCUN AIRPORT RECOVERS

By Heiko Reuter

The runway under water, window panes smashed, the complex electronics of the instrument landing system destroyed, roofs damaged and access blocked: hurricane Wilma had wreaked severe damage on this international airport 22 kilometres to the north-east of popular holiday destination Cancun (IATA code CUN, ICAO code MMUN) on the Caribbean coast of Mexico. Instead of scheduled jets packed with holidaymakers arriving at one-minute intervals, for many days there was no air traffic at all. Thousands of tourists from Europe and the USA were waiting to be evacuated, some of them without water and electricity. There were long tailbacks all round the second largest airport in the country. Tempers flared into scenes of uproar.

At times take-offs and landings were diverted to Merida, although there was virtually no way of getting through by road to this city 300 kilometres away. When Cancun airport reopened, only visual approaches were possible. Eventually Condor laid on six special flights to collect a large proportion of the stranded German holidaymakers.

This was in October of last year. Since then the situation has relaxed. The severely damaged Terminal 1 for charter flights is still closed, but apart from that, Cancun airport is almost back to normal, even if a lot fewer aircraft are bringing tourists these days. The instrument landing system is intact, the debris has been cleared.

At the beginning of December, just six weeks after Wilma, the Mexicans already had something to celebrate – the start of building work on the new Terminal 3. This will extend over 40,000 square metres and “offer airlines and passengers excellent quality in the service area,” as the airport operating company ASUR puts it. The new terminal will accommodate 84 check-in counters and eleven gates with passenger walkways. On top of that this airport, which handles around 10 million passengers a year and is the second most important hub after Mexico City, is to acquire a second runway.

This expansion will double the number of passengers which can be handled in Cancun to 20 million. Together, the two projects will cost $200 million. All Cancun needs now is for the airlines to return to this holiday region which still abounds in signs of devastation. But as far as the growth in air traffic is concerned, Wilma is just an interruption, as one high-up Mexican politician pointed out. Condor and LTU have already resumed three times weekly flights to Cancun.

Moreover, the expansion plans reflect the view that Cancun should be positioned as a hub for flights from Europe. This airport, which was once the package holiday maker's Mecca, would be well-suited to this role on account of its geographical position as the nearest point to continental Europe. A lot of airlines have flown to Mexico City, which is much further away, up to now, leaving their passengers to transfer onto jets operated by Mexican partners. But if they were to fly via Cancun, the journey time would be cut by several hours. According to Cancun's head of tourism, Artemio Santos Santos, discussions are already under way with a few Spanish airlines and with Alitalia. Talks have also been held with Condor on the subject of transfer connections with partner airlines to Mexican destinations. However, the Condor head office plays down the issue: they know about the Mexicans' plans, but, “We aren't planning anything specific.”

From page 80 of FLUG REVUE 3/2006

Last updated 10 February 2006

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