Mexico City Texcoco Airport


Mexico City Texcoco Airport is a partially built facility which was supposed to be Mexico City's New International Airport, but it was abruptly canceled in late 2018. Instead, the current Federal government of Mexico plans to build an international airport at Santa Lucía airbase north of the city.
Texcoco Airport was first announced in the State of the Union address of President Enrique Peña Nieto on September 2, 2014. It was billed as the largest public infrastructure work in Mexico in a century. The new airport was set to replace current Benito Juárez International Airport, the busiest airport in Latin America transporting 41.7 million passengers in 2016. The development of NAICM at Texcoco was planned in four stages. Phase I, was scheduled to open by October 20, 2020, would have consisted of one main terminal of and three independent runways, which would yield a capacity for 68 million passengers annually. In its final Phase, NAICM would have consisted of six runways, an additional main terminal and two satellite terminals, with capacity for 125 million passengers, making it the second largest airport in the world today.
The Master Plan was developed by the global engineering and consultancy company Arup Group Limited. The architectural project was designed in collaboration between Pritzker award architect Norman Foster – whose works include Beijing Capital International Airport, Hong Kong International Airport – and renowned Mexican Architect Fernando Romero – whose works include Soumaya Museum.
NAICM Texcoco construction was in process since 2016, and was managed by Grupo Aeroportuario de la Ciudad de México, a state-owned company fully owned by the Mexican Ministry of Transportation. GACM holds a fifty-year concession to build, develop, operate, and manage NAICM, and is also the parent company of the current airport AICM. In October 2018, in a non-binding referendum organized by President-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador, 69 percent of the 1.067 million voters rejected the airport, choosing instead to build a new airport on the grounds of Santa Lucía Air Force Base. Construction continued for several weeks, but on December 27, 2018, the government announced the official cessation of operations at the planned airport. It is unknown whether the airport will be finished and serve as a second airport to Mexico City, or if it will be sold off and used for other purposes.

Location

The new airport was being built on a 4,432 hectare plot to the northeast of Mexico City, in the Zona Federal del Lago de Texcoco. Given the proximity to the current airport, about 3 miles away, the opening of NAICM Texcoco would have required the complete shutdown of AICM and the immediate transfer of operations to the new airport - similar to Hong Kong and Munich.

Costs and financing

The total funding required for the construction and initial operation of the New Airport is estimated at up to US$13.3 billion, of which approximately 60% will be contributed by the Mexican government through the use of public funds, and approximately 40% is expected to be funded from a combination of bank loans and the offering of debt securities.
The private financing for the development of NAICM at Texcoco was structured as a securitization drawing from passenger charges at the existing airport in Mexico City and future passenger charges of the new airport, upon commencement of operations, without recourse to the Mexican government or the airport sponsors. GACM has implemented the Mexico City Airport Trust, a special purpose trust under the laws of Mexico to execute this financing structure. This collateral structure ensures that even if the project were to be canceled, the bonds would still be honored.
In September 2017, the NAICM Airport Trust successfully placed US$4 billion in private debt securities. That includes US$3 billion in 30-year notes that are due in 2047 and yield 5.5 percent annual interest, plus US$1 billion in notes due 2028 that yield 3.875 percent annual interest. This adds up to last year's $2 billion bond issuance, which included a US$1 billion worth of 10-year bonds pay annual interest of 4.25% and US$1 billion worth of 30-year bonds pay annual interest of 5.5%. The green bond issuance became the largest in Latin America and the first green bond from an emerging market to receive a Green Bond Assessment grade from Moody's Investors Service.

Facilities

The airport started the building process in 2015 with its starting phase. It is expected to put its first phase in operation in October 2020, however if everything goes according to plan, it is possible that demo operations could start as soon as possibly February or March. If completed as planned, the airport will have a passenger capacity of up to 68 million passengers and, if the master plan is completed in the following decades, up to 125 million people per year.
At its first phase, the airport was to include:
When completed, the airport's total facilities were to include:

X Shape

The X was symbolic of the country's name, "México". An X-shape is also considered efficient to extend the number of gates. The X shape is used in the airports of Abu Dhabi, Mumbai, Nairobi, Incheon, Pittsburgh, and SeaTac.

Roof

The roof was considered "airy, lightweight, and made of membrane".
According to Foster and Partners:
With spans in excess of 100 meters, three times the span of a conventional airport, it has a monumental scale inspired by Mexican architecture and symbolism. The maximum span internally is 170 metres. The lightweight glass and steel structure and soaring vaulted roof are designed for Mexico City’s challenging soil conditions. Its unique pre-fabricated system can be constructed rapidly, without the need for scaffolding – the airport will be a showcase for Mexican innovation, built by Mexican contractors and engineers.

Sustainability

The terminal was planned to be sustainable, aiming for a LEED Platinum certification. The project claimed it was "designed to be the world’s most sustainable airport".

Antecedents and protests

Because of the increasing traffic at Mexico City airport, President Vicente Fox announced the construction of a new, larger airport on of land in the municipalities of Texcoco and San Salvador Atenco in 2002, roughly where the new airport is planned today. When local violent protests took place, the new airport was cancelled. Prior to the 2014 announcement of the construction of the new airport, the government had purchased ejido land, and the government now claims that it has no need to acquire additional locally held land to build the airport. Some local groups in Atenco and nearby communities differ, claiming that the federal government acquired the land through deception and strong-arming, and small-scale protests took place after the announcement.

Post-closure

After the decision was made to close the airport, debts had to be liquidated.
On July 10, 2020, it was alleged that Grupo Gilbert had frauduently won possession of 49,000 tons of steel that had originally been designated for the NAIM.