In less than 15 days, the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, will give the starting signal to one of his most desired projects: the Mexican military airline. The planned takeoff from the Santa Lucía airport (State of Mexico) to Tulum (Quintana Roo), on December 1, has not been free of turbulence, setbacks and last-minute decisions. Without its own aircraft or certificates, the Government has chosen to lease its Embraer aircraft to another Mexican airline, TAR, in order to be able to make the first inaugural trips under the leasing scheme. wet lease, a rental with everything and crew. Thus, the first flights of the military airline will be carried out by a civilian crew.
According to the inaugural flight plan, President López Obrador will land on December 1 at the Tulum airport, one of the new airport infrastructures that will be under the reins of the military and the newly created Grupo Aeroportuario, Ferroviario Olmeca-Maya- Mexican. Through the state company of the Ministry of Defense, the Government will assume control of a dozen airports and several tourism projects in the southeast of the country, including the emblematic Mayan Train project. In the budget project approved in the Congress of Deputies for the following year, the estimated purse for the company will be 15,172 million pesos, while for the Mexican airline a disbursement of 119.6 million pesos was authorized.
In Mexico there are currently 78 airports, however, 38 of them are operated by private parties and only three are in the hands of the Ministry of Defense. This Government intends to increase this last figure and has transferred a series of air terminals to both the military and sailors. From the perspective of the Executive, the incursion of this new state participant in the airspace will boost air connectivity and the growth of regions with high potential for the country’s tourism sector. “The participation of private parties in the administration of airports has not been shown to have a significant impact on the well-being of the population. Some airports have been closed due to the low profitability they present due to their poor administration, regardless of the negative impact on the connectivity of various communities,” the Federal Government stated in the program of the Airport, Railway, Auxiliary and Related Services Group, Olmeca. Maya-Mexica 2023-2024.
With the flag, in addition, of guaranteeing national security and contributing to the development of the country, this Administration has handed over to the military and sailors the management of these strategic infrastructures in aeronautical matters, including the Felipe Ángeles airport, in the State of Mexico, the Mexican airline and the next air terminal in Tulum, adjacent to the tourist jewel of Cancun. In addition, he is soon expected to assume management of the North Airport in Apodaca, Nuevo León, whose private concession expires in the coming weeks. Thus, at the end of the six-year term, the military and sailors will have to divide their time in safeguarding security with the tourist and commercial administration that assumes the reins of these international connectivity infrastructures.
The transition from security tasks to service providers has implied commercial and logistical challenges that have ranged from the lack of specialized personnel, the lack of airplanes and certificates to the marathon days to complete the infrastructure on the dates promised by the president. In the takeoff of Mexicana, for example, the military has had to reduce its expectations. Of the twenty destinations announced at the launch, the airline has backed off and warned that it will only start with nine destinations, so travelers who have purchased tickets to those places where, for now, they will not offer the service will be compensated. In addition, with this change of plans, the routes of the planes will also be adjusted. If previously they promised to transport up to 160 passengers, now there will only be room for 50 people.
Pablo Casas, general director of the National Institute of Legal-Aeronautical Research, warns that the Embraer planes for short distance flights will be expensive to operate. “The ideal would be for them to postpone the inauguration to the end of January, otherwise it would be something very pressured and with a risk for air safety,” he says.
Days after its launch, the international airport of Tulum, Felipe Carrillo Puerto, does not have an official website, while the Mexicana air terminal only has illustrative information; however, it is not yet possible to purchase travel tickets. The Tulum terminal is located in a strategic tourist area of the Mexican Caribbean and is planned to serve 5.5 million passengers per year, an infrastructure that will compete directly with the aerodrome that Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico (GAP) operates in Cancun.
For the specialist, the military must learn to negotiate with airlines, airports and international organizations. Casas has also criticized that during this Government the civil aviation authorities have become militarized. “The military were made airport entrepreneurs and air entrepreneurs without having the capabilities because they are purely civil businesses where profits must be generated and unfortunately, the Army, with all the benefits and all the respect it deserves, has no experience in that. “, ditch.
Subscribe here to the EL PAÍS México newsletter and receive all the key information on current events in this country
Subscribe to continue reading
Read without limits
_
#airline #dozen #airports #billion #pesos #military #takes #flight