It would be an operational nightmare if the airport closes its Terminal 2.

Earlier this week, Mexico’s president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, said he was analyzing the possibility of rebuilding Mexico City Benito Juárez International Airport’s (MEX) Terminal 2, due to structural damage. If the Mexican authorities decided to embark on this project, it would heavily impact the daily operations at the country’s biggest airport, and it would be particularly harmful to Aeromexico.

While speaking in a daily press conference, Mr. López Obrador said the building of MEX’s Terminal 2 was done poorly. He said the whole Terminal is sinking, and therefore there’s the possibility of having to rebuild the whole thing entirely.

Mexico City’s Terminal 2 was inaugurated in 2006 to address the ongoing saturation at the airport. It is heavily used by Aeromexico and its partners Delta Air Lines and LATAM Airlines, as well as other carriers such as Copa Airlines, Aeromar, and Wingo.

Mr. López Obrador said,

“There were mistakes. (These mistakes are big enough) to order a technical and administrative audit. We have to solve how to avoid the Terminal to keep on sinking and avoid any possible accident.”

Nonetheless, he also kept the option open of making temporary adjustments to the Terminal, leaving the possibility of reconstructing the whole project to the next administration. Mr. López Obrador is set to end his term in 2024.

Simple Flying reached Aeromexico for comment. The airline declined to comment.

Closing Terminal 2 would have a massive impact on the daily operations of the airlines serving Mexico City Airport. Around 46.5% of all flights that land or depart from MEX do it at Terminal 2.

Rebuilding the Terminal would inevitably have a cascade effect on the Mexican airline industry. Most likely, a good portion of the commercial services currently offered at MEX would have to move to either the Felipe Ángeles International Airport (NLU) or the Toluca International Airport (TLC). These two hubs, located outside Mexico City, are part of the Metropolitan System of Airports and, along MEX, are able to receive annually around 70 million people at the moment. Nonetheless, both NLU and TLC have failed to attract enough passengers and airlines.

Moreover, moving a certain amount of flights to either of these airports would prove challenging. Firstly, the Mexican airlines could not move any flight that has the United States as the final destination away from MEX, due to the country being downgraded to Category 2 by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The four Mexican airlines that fly to the United States currently operate 301 weekly flights to this country from MEX, or 8.5% of the total flights at the airport.

Secondly, moving any amount of flights from MEX to NLU or TLC to address the T2 issues, would create a cascade of problems for the airline industry. From having core operations in two or three different airports, to codeshare services, handling, ground, and maintenance operations. Passengers would also be heavily impacted (more than they already are at the moment; four in every ten flights are delayed this season in MEX).

Overall, shutting down the T2 to rebuild it would be nothing short of an operational disaster.

Mr. López Obrador did not compromise to undertake this enormous task. He left the door open for the following administrations to deal with the problem, which is not a relief either, just a patch.

In the end, the T2 issue would have been solved by 2024 if the current government kept on building the now scrapped Texcoco International Airport. This hub, located outside Mexico City was supposed to take place over MEX as the main hub in the region.

What is your opinion on this scenario? Let us know in the comments below.

Lead Journalist - South America - Daniel comes to Simple Flying with many years of aviation journalism experience, having worked with Mexican publication A21, Roads & Kingdoms, El Economista and more. His degree in journalism allows him to form beautifully crafted and insightful pieces. His specialist knowledge of Latin American airlines and close relationship with the likes of Aeromexico, Avianca, Volaris brings depth to our coverage in the region. Based in Mexico City, Mexico.