Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador will on Monday inaugurate a new México City airport, over three years after he scrapped a separate $13 billion hub under construction by the previous government that he cast as a symbol of corruption.
By Reuters – Dave Graham
Mar 21, 2022
The military base north of the capital which Lopez Obrador has turned into Felipe Angeles International Airport will start with just a handful of flights. It begins operations without a train connection, which is due to be ready next year.
“It really is beautiful, it’s one of the best airports in the world, a top quality piece of work by the Army’s engineers,” López Obrador said ahead of the inauguration.
The airport was built in the teeth of criticism from business groups that had backed the part-built hub canceled by Lopez Obrador just a few weeks before he took office.
The decision rattled markets and set the tone for an often fractious relationship with business under his administration.
The government spent $1.8 billion paying off the Texcoco bondholders, adding to costs sunk into the canceled airport, which the president labeled “pharaonic.” He then put the Mexican army in charge of building the new airport.
Some critics of the Felipe Angeles hub have questioned whether both airports will be able to operate properly simultaneously. The government is adamant that they well.
An official website for the new airport was not loading as of Sunday evening. A Twitter feed for the project said initial flights would be going to Cancun, Tijuana, Mérida, Guadalajara, Monterrey, Villahermosa in México and Caracas, Venezuela.
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